“I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t conceptually embrace the idea – it’s a compelling proposition, but there are lots of compelling propositions from a sustainability perspective”
It’s not a question on palming off “unwanted produce” – there is a responsibility to ensure that they are getting nutritionally balanced food. Retail Environment saw dozens of pallets of Snickers bars in the warehouse which won’t be distributed in abundance to the benefi ciaries just because they are available. In the orders witnessed that day, one box was given to individual benefi ciaries – if confectionary had been requested. The after school clubs, of which six were among the destinations visited in one afternoon shift, received crates of tomatoes and cucumbers, boxes of fresh orange juice and cereal bars. The food donated to homeless shelters comprised of everything from vacuum-packed ribs to pots of hummus and cooking sauces.
Good deeds FareShare and other food charities such as The Trussell Trust get additional help by customer support. Of the 4,200 tonnes of produce FareShare collected in 2012, 12% came from donations principally made at events called ‘food drives’. On July 5 and 6 this year FareShare is partnering with Tesco and UK foodbank The Trussell Trust to run, for a second time, the UK’s biggest ever food collection in Tesco stores across the country. Thousands of Tesco staff members, together
with FareShare along with The Trussell Trust volunteers and Tesco Retired Staff Association members will be on hand to help customers who will be given special shopping lists to encourage them to buy everyday food items like cereals, rice, instant coff ee, tinned food and sauces to complement the surplus fresh food FareShare receives daily from the industry. In stores that are collecting for FareShare,
the food will be delivered back to FareShare’s local depots, where the food will be weighed. The total weight collected will be used to calculate a total value of which 30% will be given by Tesco to FareShare.
For Varney the drives are important for two reasons: “They give us access to ambient food we need, but more importantly it gives us an opportunity to talk about what we do with our retail partners with their customers.”
For longevity As much as FareShare is sympathetic to the challenges retailers and manufacturers are facing with regards to changing traditional operation modes, for greater long-term success there also needs to be more mutual trust and understanding, according to Varney. Manufacturers and retailers, for example, need to be more understanding of what can be done in a certain timeframe, explains Varney. It’s sometimes the case that a retailer will ring up “three days before with 53 pallets worth, but because of the scale we are unable to accept it…So we need to fi nd ways to grow but we also need industry to be more fl exible. In three or four years we can hopefully take it all,” says Varney. FareShare only accepts produce it is confi dent can used; there is very little waste at their end. The outlook is bright, however. “The most important thing is we’re seeing strong progress and
momentum...increasingly more businesses are saying we need to invest in the relationship with FareShare and increase redistribution,” says Varney.
The biggest challenge will be overcoming a perceived complexity, redesigning processes that prioritise human consumption before considering other options and looking at a long-term vision rather than short-term profi t. “This contribution can be cheaper than alternatives…it is cheaper than sending it to landfi ll, environmentally it’s 28 times more effi cient to redistribute food for consumption than it is to throw it away,” concludes Varney.
In the UK in 2012:
● More than one in 20 people had to skip meals because they could not aff ord food;
● Nearly half (48%) of the people who said they had skipped meals did so for the fi rst time
● More than half (51%) of the people who said they had skipped meals were forced to go without food for two days or more
● Almost a quarter (23%) of people had changed their eating habits, buying cheaper food or reducing the amount they eat
● 21% of people ate less healthy food as they believed healthier food was more expensive
● The main reasons given by people for being unable to buy the food they needed was a rise in the cost of living or low income (56%) or an unexpected bill or expense (20%), while other signifi cant reasons given included paying off debts (15%) and being made redundant or seeing a reduction in working hours (12%).
JUNE 2013 | RETAIL ENVIRONMENT 27
Source: The Trussell Trust
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