It’s Meals Waste Motion Week! Final yr we launched a marketing campaign with our founder and private finance skilled Jasmine Birtles to legalise Freeganism within the UK. You’ll be able to signal our petition and assist battle meals waste here.
However it can take greater than legalising Freeganism to cease meals waste and assist feed our nation. That’s one of many explanation why the third annual Meals Waste Motion Week marketing campaign is going down sixth – twelfth March 2023. The theme for 2023 is ‘Win. Don’t Bin.’ and it’ll exhibit how invaluable meals is in our lives, the way it unites folks and the way utilizing up every little thing we purchase saves cash, time and the planet.
The marketing campaign goals to extend residents’ confidence in ‘utilizing up leftovers’ by selling a variety of expertise that may be simply adopted however doubtlessly have the best impression on decreasing meals waste within the residence.
This yr goals to construct on the unimaginable success of the 2022 marketing campaign, which noticed it go worldwide for the primary time with help from 80 organisations throughout 12 nations.
In 2022…
…Meals Waste Motion Week impressed residents internationally to waste much less meals, working a marketing campaign throughout social, PR, and digital channels. The marketing campaign reached over eight million folks within the UK, with an enormous 55% of them saying they did one thing about meals waste in consequence.
There are a selection of how to help the week: via direct sponsorship; working occasions and PR exercise; and thru serving to to unfold the marketing campaign’s key messages throughout your personal networks.
And now…
To make it as simple as potential so that you can get entangled, the location has produced a Meals Waste Motion Week 2023 Marketing campaign Toolkit, which incorporates the belongings and steering it’s good to assist help the marketing campaign.
All belongings can be found in English and Spanish: Download the Food Waste Action Week Partner Pack together with the toolkit to start out planning how one can get entangled.
In case you are enthusiastic about supporting Meals Waste Motion Week, please get in contact at lfhw@wrap.org.uk.
MORE FOOD WASTE ORGANISATIONS
Right here’s a listing of a number of the teams across the UK working onerous to battle meals waste and put meals on the desk for a lot of households throughout this troublesome time.
FARESHARE
Maybe one of many largest and most well-known teams with a mission to battle meals poverty is FareShare. They work nationally to redistribute meals, and they’re made up of 18 unbiased organisations throughout the UK. They take the highest quality surplus meals from all corners of the meals business and distribute it to greater than 10,500 frontline neighborhood teams.
These teams embody college breakfast golf equipment, homeless shelters, neighborhood cafes and older folks’s lunch golf equipment. Each single week, FareShare present sufficient meals to make a million meals for weak folks.
England Worldwide footballer Marcus Rashford has additionally been an envoy of FareShare since March 2020. Since he started, he has not solely raised consciousness of kid starvation throughout the UK, however he has raised sufficient cash to allow Fareshare to have delivered 21 million meals.
You’ll find out extra about FareShare here.
UKHARVEST
UKHarvest is a not-for-profit perishable meals rescue operation that collects high quality extra meals from business shops and delivers it, direct and freed from cost, to charities. They supply a lot wanted help to weak folks, amassing surplus meals from all sorts of meals suppliers, together with fruit and vegetable markets, supermarkets, motels, wholesalers, farmers, occasions and eating places.
In addition they have neighborhood kitchens and meals hubs throughout the south of England. On-line, you may watch their cooking movies, browse their large vary of scrumptious recipes to stop meals waste, and even take part with free cook-alongs!
WRAP
Chances are you’ll not have heard of WRAP, however you’ll most positively have heard of their well-known Love Food Hate Waste marketing campaign, launched in 2007. This can be a well-known marketing campaign which raises consciousness of meals waste and gives steps on how people can cut back their very own meals waste.
They consider in difficult attitudes, behaviours and mindsets to make sure everybody is aware of the worth of meals. They encourage folks to solely purchase what they want, eat what they purchase, and retailer their meals accurately to stop waste.
You’ll be able to learn extra about WRAP and their campaigns to battle meals waste here.
FOOD WORKS SHEFFIELD
Food Works Sheffield declare to avoid wasting 500 tonnes of meals a yr from going to landfill – an unimaginable feat. To do that, they use high quality surplus and regionally grown components to make scrumptious food and drinks. In addition they accumulate and share this surplus for his or her market, the place you may accumulate a field of meals each day.
Via their very own farm, in addition they support in native meals manufacturing and participate in neighborhood rising. They state the significance of rising meals regionally, not solely to scale back the necessity for transportation, storage and preservatives, however to enhance the meals cycle.
You’ll find out extra about Meals Works Sheffield here.
THE FELIX PROJECT
Arrange in 2016, The Felix Project is a London-based redistribution charity which goals to deal with meals waste and meals poverty. They rescue good, nutritious surplus meals that can not be bought and would in any other case go to waste. The nice factor is, they delight themselves on getting a lot of contemporary fruit and greens, salads, meat, fish and baked items.
They obtain meals from over 539 suppliers. These suppliers embody supermarkets, wholesalers, farms and eating places. It’s then sorted and delivered to a whopping 1,00 charities, faculties and vacation programmes throughout the capital metropolis. Meals from the meals business which might have in any other case gone to waste is as an alternative given to weak folks, homeless folks and individuals who can’t afford to purchase common meals.
Learn extra about The Felix Undertaking’s work here.
FOODCYCLE
FoodCycle have had a imaginative and prescient to make meals poverty and meals waste a factor of the previous since 2009. Each single week since they opened, they’ve nourished and fed hungry folks of their communities with scrumptious meals. In addition they hope to fight loneliness, offering nice dialog throughout these meals.
They’ve a couple of quite simple and nice goals. Not solely do they want to nourish the hungry, enhancing vitamin and decreasing starvation by cooking meals for these in want, however they assist to help psychological well being and wellbeing on the similar time, creating welcoming areas for folks from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Discover out extra here.
PLAN Z HEROES
Plan Z Heroes was established in 2011, when the founders determined to place an finish to meals waste. They created a meals donation platform which permits companies and the meals business to rapidly and simply put up their surplus meals donations on-line. Close by charities and neighborhood teams can then declare this meals and accumulate it from their London base.
Their platform at the moment has over 1,000 companies, charities and volunteers. In addition they work with companies throughout the availability chain – growers, producers, caterers and bakeries. Plus, over 50% of the meals they redistribute is contemporary and nutritious, reminiscent of fruit, greens, meat, fish and dairy.
Discover out extra about Plan Z Heroes’ work here.
FOOD WASTE APPS
Too Good To Go
Some of the well-known apps combating meals waste, Too Good To Go permits eating places, cafes and bakeries to checklist their leftover meals that might in any other case be thrown out. Customers can browse the map to see what is on the market regionally to them and decide up a bag of products – often called a ‘magic bag’ – for a really low value.
Karma
Karma is much like Too Good To Go, in that meals is obtainable at a closely discounted worth. Customers are in a position to rescue contemporary meals from eating places, cafes and bakeries close to them. Nonetheless, as an alternative of getting a shock bag, customers can see precisely what is on the market at every location. Up to now, Karma has rescued over 4 million meals and saved 1,800 tonnes of CO2. They’ve 1.4 million app customers in 225 cities worldwide.
Olio
One other well-known meals waste app is Olio. Olio permits folks to share undesirable meals and items with neighbours and folks of their native space. Persons are free to share something from undesirable items to meals that gained’t get eaten, and even produce from native supermarkets that’s on the final day of its use by date. Olio additionally companions with catering, hospitality and retail companies to choose up surplus meals 24/7 and ship it out into the area people.
FoodCloud
That is one other nice app. FoodCloud connects supermarkets and companies within the meals business with charities and neighborhood group to donate their surplus meals. These teams embody household help providers, homeless shelters and extra throughout the UK. An outline of the meals obtainable is uploaded, and charities get a notification that meals is on the market to be collected.
Helpful hyperlinks
WE MUST MAKE FREEGANISM LEGAL – HERE’S WHY
OPINION PIECE: WHY AS A SOCIETY WE MUST TRY HARDER TO UNDERSTAND POVERTY
FRUGAL FOOD: HOW TO SAVE ON YOUR FOOD BILL
HOW TO GET FREE FOOD WHEREVER YOU LIVE