The fund will improve how charities and other
organisations handle and distribute leftover food by
investing in infrastructure such as weighing equipment,
storage solutions, warehouses, industrial freezers and
fridges, labelling equipment and vehicles.
This comes as Food Waste Champion Ben Elliot hosted
more than 300 major players from the food industry
today at London’s prestigious Victoria and Albert
Museum, where businesses including Nestlé, Tesco,
Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose signed a pledge to take tough
action on food waste – including halving food waste by
2030.
The Environment Secretary also unveiled new
figures today which show redistribution of
surplus food in the UK has almost doubled in the last
three years, with enough food saved to produce the
equivalent of 133 million meals a year.
Environment Secretary said:
I want to thank our Food Surplus and Waste Champion
Ben Elliot for bringing together the biggest players
from the world of food today to ‘Step up to the
Plate’ and slash food waste.
Every year, millions of tonnes of good, nutritious
food is thrown away.
Today I am opening the second round of funding to
help organisations ensure that food is not thrown
away, but goes to those most in need.
Together we can deliver real change to stop good food
going to waste.
From today, redistribution organisations in
England will be able to
bid into a £6 million pot to help them
overcome the financial barrier to redistributing
surplus food which is currently going to waste but
which could be redistributed.
It’s the second round of a £15 million
scheme announced last year by the Environment
Secretary to specifically address surplus food from
retail and manufacturing.
The food waste symposium runs alongside
the V&A’s FOOD:
Bigger than the Plate exhibition, which will
explore similar themes when it opens to the public on
Saturday 18 May.
Currently around 55,000 tonnes of surplus food is
redistributed from retailers and food manufacturers
every year. It is estimated a further 100,000 tonnes of
food - equating to 250 million meals a year - is edible
and readily available but goes uneaten. Instead, this
food is currently sent away for generating energy from
waste, anaerobic digestion, or animal feed.
The government is committed to being a global leader in
tackling food waste. The government’s £15 million
scheme to tackle food waste builds on its
landmark Resources and
Waste Strategy, which sets out how the government
will introduce annual reporting of food surplus and
waste by food businesses. Should progress be
insufficient, we will consult on seeking legal powers
to introduce mandatory targets for food waste
prevention.
The Resources and Waste Strategy also sets out how the
government will ensure weekly collections of food
waste, which is often smelly and unpleasant, for every
household – restoring weekly collections in some local
authorities, subject to consultation.
The government is committed to supporting
the United Nation’s
Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger by
2030.
The Secretary of State delivered a speech on
tackling food waste at the V&A museum.
