RE: SPOTLIGHT
The Trussell Trust
The Trussell Trust foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK. In 2012-13 foodbanks fed 346,992 people nationwide. Of those helped, 126,889 were children. Rising costs of food and fuel combined with static income, high unemployment and changes to benefits are causing more and more people to come to foodbanks for help. The Trussell Trust partners with churches and communities to open new foodbanks nationwide. With over 325 foodbanks launched, the Trust’s goal is for every town to have one.
“marketer might like complexity, a factory manager might like simplicity,” says Varney.
“CEOs might want to do it but actually when it comes down to it, they might say we can’t take all of the food early enough to make it valuable for FareShare. What often happens, particularly for manufacturers, is if there is surplus they won’t be able to send commercially they’ll try and sell it to alternative channels,” according to Varney. The biggest problem, according to Varney, is anticipating what will be left over or oversupplied that can be fit for human consumption. “That complexity is the biggest barrier to [food] being shared with us,” argues Varney. “Different departments or different organisations need to be involved in a decision when a product is offered to us,” he says. “One of the key drivers of success is the number of people who need to be involved in that organisation...if you put the processes in place then it’s quite simple, but that hasn’t happened yet,” he adds. As with most sustainability issues, finance causes another problem, he says. One of the key priorities to drive change is getting “the right people around the table”, according to Varney. WRAP, for example, are convening an industry roundtable to identify what the barriers are. The group comprises representatives of key industry groups like the Food and Drink Federation, global food and consumer goods experts, IGD, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) as well as the companies themselves. Commenting on the new Courtauld agreement, which in May saw 45 companies come on board, Varney argues “one of the important interventions from our point of view, is the commitment to an 8% food waste reduction by 2015. The value of food waste redistributed for human consumption has been recognised within that 8% target, counting itself along food sent to AD or used for animal feed,” he says.
The bottom line for Varney is “focusing on feeding as many people as we can. We want to work more closely with the food industry, whether that’s retail or with the manufacturer. The fact that Defra have asked WRAP to convene an industry roundtable, is a really positive thing but clearly a lot more could be done. We welcome funding from anyone, whether that’s governmental or non-government. There could be some opportunities to provide tax breaks to food organisations to support us – we’d welcome that but we’re also aware businesses we want to work with prefer a light touch to legislation. So our focus is on getting the right conditions to get as much as that food out to the people that need it; we’re not necessarily an organisation to lobby the government,” explains Varney.
Well managed Another barrier to a better relationship appears to be trust. Some retailers are concerned how FareShare manages the food. It is “our job to demonstrate that only a certain amount of each product goes to each outlet so it reduces the risk of it being sold – that’s a big concern for retailers and manufacturers,” says Varney. “We work really hard to ensure that isn’t the case and that these outlets have good food safety criteria,” he adds. The hub of FareShare is a depot in Deptford, south east London. The warehouse is filled with shelves of produce stacked according to category. Paper labels reading “tea”, “baking goods”, “cereals” line trays that have been filled and ready to distribute according to the orders made by the beneficiaries usually the day before. The 700 – and counting – organisations including shelters and hostels, day-care centres, and breakfast clubs for disadvantaged children do have a say in what they receive.
26 RETAIL ENVIRONMENT | JUNE 2013
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