With awareness of the problem of food waste growing, more and more schemes are seeing surplus food put to good use.
Many UK supermarkets are starting to tackle food waste by donating surplus food to charities. But how do these schemes actually work?
Supermarket Surplus Food and What Causes It
Supermarkets waste edible food for all sorts of reasons. They might have ordered more food than they need, leaving some unsold.
Food might have arrived in the wrong packaging. Other food might be past its best before date, but is still safe to eat. Or certain foods might be discontinued.
Whilst retailers and wholesalers are responsible for around 3% of all post-farm-gate food waste in the UK, that’s still a large amount. It equates to 300,000 tonnes of food, surplus to requirements every year.
If it were all edible, it would be enough to feed over 300,000 people for a year.
It’s not clear how much of this surplus food is fit for human consumption. But resource efficiency experts WRAP estimate that only 5,000 tonnes of it is currently redistributed for people to eat.
It’s also estimated that UK supermarkets donate over 7,800 tonnes each year. Sainsbury’s leads the way with 7.6% of its surplus food donated. The rest is fed to animals, composted, spread on farmland or thrown away.
5,000 or 7,800 tonnes, there’s still a long way before we reach 300,000 tonnes being donated for people to eat.
So there’s a lot of room for improvement. WRAP says that an extra 270 million meals a year could be redistributed from the UK grocery supply chain. Not only would this feed a lot of people, it would reduce the impact on the environment that food waste causes.
Retailers and food suppliers in Spain and France are doing better. They donate 118,000 and 100,000 tonnes of surplus food respectively each year. France has even banned supermarkets from throwing out edible food. This has led to more and better donations to food banks.
Could British supermarkets achieve the same?
How Food Waste Is Currently Being Tackled by Supermarkets
Many UK supermarkets are now making efforts to reduce the surplus food they throw away.
Tesco, for example, pledged to end edible food waste by the end of 2018. As it stands in May 2019, they’ve reached 81% of all surplus food going to humans or animals.
But supermarkets could also help us avoid waste at home by not running multibuy offers that tempt us to buy more than necessary. Could these ‘deals’ simply be the chains passing the buck onto us by getting us to buy their surplus stock?
One branch of the Co-op has shown exceptional commitment to the cause. They’ve started selling store-cupboard staples at crazy cheap prices. Once items such as pasta have gone past their best-before date but are still edible, they’re sold off. Pasta for 10 pence? Yes please!
But it’s not just about waste produced by shops and supermarkets. Some are reducing waste from farms by selling “wonky veg” ranges.
Some supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose are tackling the problem in other ways. They’re donating edible surplus food to charities to be made into nourishing meals. Homeless hostels, school breakfast clubs and shelters for domestic violence victims all benefit.
How Is Edible Food Redistributed?
It’s not as simple as you might think to donate surplus food. There has to be a way of making sure that the food is still safe to eat.
And it’s inherently difficult to predict when surplus food will be available. So someone needs to manage the logistics of collection, storage and delivery.
Small charities may not have the space to store large amounts of food. Supermarkets need to know that any donated food is going to a genuine charitable organisation. While charities need a way of knowing when and where food is available.
One solution is for a third party to deal with all the stages between supermarket and charity. FareShare is one example. They are the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity. It was founded by homeless charity Crisis and supermarket Sainsbury’s in the 1990s.
FareShare redistributes food to over 6,700 charities and community groups. They deliver enough food for over 28 million meals each year!
The FareShare Way
FareShare uses two main methods to get surplus food from supermarkets to those who need it.
Charities can sign up for regular deliveries of food through FareShare membership. FareShare collects surplus food from supermarkets and takes it to one of 21 warehouses across the country.
These facilities can store chilled, frozen and ambient food. Since the warehouses are so large, spikes in supply are not a problem – FareShare has room for it all.
At the warehouse, the food is sorted so that each charity can get the mix of food needed to provide healthy meals. Volunteer drivers then distribute the food to the charities, who have specified how much food they need. Charities can also pick up food directly from the warehouse.
Or, supermarkets and charities can use an app called FareShare FoodCloud. Supermarkets upload details of surplus food to the app, alerting local charities. The charity can then collect food directly from the supermarket.
In both cases, charities must be vetted. FareShare will check that they’re able to store and handle the food safely. They never accept food that has gone past its use by date, as this would be unsafe. But they can take food that has gone past its best before date.
Supermarkets don’t have to check every charity themselves – making it easier for them to donate food.
Other Ways to Redistribute Surplus Food
FareShare isn’t the only option for supermarkets wanting to redistribute surplus food.
Supermarkets can also choose to donate to charities directly. Certain Sainsbury’s stores support Hubbub’s Community Fridge Network and Tesco are working with Olio to redistribute excess food via the sharing network.
Plan Zheroes work similarly to FareShare. They provide a website where businesses with surplus food can upload details. Nearby charities are then alerted. Volunteers in the local area then take the food from the supermarket to the charity.
The Trussell Trust runs a network of 400 food banks across the UK. They deal with the logistics including collecting food from businesses, individuals and supermarkets. They also sort the food to check that it’s in date and package it up to give to people who need emergency food.
Supermarkets can also use Neighbourly. This app connects stores with charities and is used by Lidl. OLIO uses volunteers known as Food Waste Heroes to collect surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants. Volunteers then list it on the app for local individuals to claim.
Efforts to tackle food waste are growing, but there’s a long way to go. Why not ask your local supermarket what they’re doing to tackle the problem of food waste?
With so much choice, there’s likely to be at least one scheme that suits them. If you know a local charity that could use food, point them in the direction of a food donation organisation.
Food Charities Doing Good Things With Surplus Food
Here’s some of the UK charities that are dedicating their time to redistributing surplus food. They can help whether you’re looking to volunteer or you have regular surplus food that needs redistributing. They can also help without judgement if you need help feeding you or your family.
| Charity | How They’re Helping | Where They’re Located | How to Contact Them |
|---|---|---|---|
| FareShare | The UK’s largest charity combating food poverty by rescuing quality unwanted food and redistributing it to frontline charities and community groups. | UK wide | Contact page |
| The Felix Project | Food that cannot be sold by shops and restaurants is collected and given to charities where it’s made into nutritious meals for vulnerable people. | London | Contact page |
| FoodCycle | Combines surplus food, volunteers and spare kitchen space to serve up nutritious meals for people suffering food poverty and loneliness. | UK Wide | Contact page |
| City Harvest | Redistributes food from shops, restaurants and hotels to charities feeding the homeless. | London | Contact page |
| FoodCloud | Surplus food from supermarkets is collected and donated to charities that prepare food for homeless hostels, breakfast clubs and family support services. | UK Wide | Contact page |
Using Surplus Food at Home
You can also help by using surplus foods from supermarkets at home. Many supermarkets now sell boxes of ‘wonky veg’. These are often really cost effective ways of buying fruit and vegetables. Who cares if they’re a little bit ‘ugly’?
Misshapen, overly large or knobby fruit and veg still tastes the same. And if it’s chopped up in a curry or baked into a crumble what difference does it make anyway?
Picking up a large packet of near its best before date pasta means you can make a whole batch of bolognaise which is perfect for freezing. Or invite your family or the neighbours round for dinner!
It’s not only supermarkets with surplus food, either. Sign up to OLIO and you could find people in your local area with free surplus food. Whether it’s bags of apples from their garden or food leftover from a party, there’s thousands of people willing to give away surplus food.
Together, we can tackle food waste and hunger, and doesn’t that feel great?