Fresh foods logistics operator Fowler Welch has signed an agreement to supply redistribution charity FareShare with edible food waste sourced from growers in its supply chain.
The partnership is currently being trialled with Fowler Welch’s customers on the south coast with a view to being rolled out on a wider basis. It allowed the company to “supply waste or out-of-spec produce from our customers directly into FareShare”, said Fowler Welch CEO Nick Hay.
“We can now pick up from any of our customers and supply FareShare on their behalf,” Hay added. “Across our produce and non-produce customers we’re seeing everybody excited about reducing the amount of waste or out-of-spec food that’s going into the supply chain, so this arrangement has been received very well. Suppliers are pleased they now have that route into FareShare.”
Food manufacturer, Higgidy has already signed up to the scheme that offers suppliers a ”simple, effective and cost-free way to put surplus food to good use and make a real difference to people in need”, FareShare said.
“We already work in partnership with hundreds of food companies across the UK, to help them redistribute their surplus food to people in need, yet we know there are many more businesses out there that would like to do the right thing with their surplus food but aren’t able to transport it to FareShare’s Regional Centres,” said FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell. ”We’re grateful to Fowler Welch for offering logistical support to clients along the South Coast, and hope this will encourage more businesses to work with us to redistribute their surplus to the people who need it most.”
Fowler Welch recently opened a £4m extension to its fruit & veg packing and storage warehouse in Teynham, Kent, which has the capacity to process up to eight million cases of produce a year.
The extension, part of a joint venture with importer Direct Produce Supplies, helped shorten supply chains and increase efficiencies as the produce sector faced up to weakening sterling and the Calais crisis, said Hay, who warned fruit & veg exporters were thinking twice about transporting across the Channel. “This could be partly down to the exchange rate, but there is also no doubt hauliers don’t want to go through Calais,” he said.
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