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Charities have welcomed the government’s pledge to invest £15m to deliver thousands of tonnes of food which otherwise it might fail to those who need it most, the initiative is expected to save as many as 60 million meals.
Funding, originally promised by Rishi Sunak February 2024, was temporarily postponed after the general election, but confirmed by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Friday.
About 330,000 tons of edible food is either thrown away or repurposed as animal feed before it leaves the farm, the government estimates.
The fund aims to help charities that redistribute food, but often lack the means to collect it from farms and bring it to those in need.
The money could be used to buy new equipment, such as balers or tanks, which would allow charities to collect bulk food items or process them into parcels.
The money could also be used for new technology or to train more staff.
He welcomed the announcement Project Felix and FareShare – charities fighting food waste and hunger in the UK – who said the funding marked a step towards a zero-waste Britain.
Charlotte Hill, chief executive of Project Felix, said it was “a scandal to see food grown on farms in the UK going to waste, especially with increasing numbers of people facing food insecurity”.
“This £15m funding has the potential to unlock huge stocks of healthy and nutritious produce and help Project Felix deliver even more meals in 2025,” she added.
“Project Felix found that 1 in 8 working families in London use a food bank each week to feed their children. We deliver to around 1,200 community organisations, who work hard to feed people living with food insecurity, but the demand is much greater.
“We have a long waiting list of organizations that are desperate for food, but we don’t have any to give.”
It comes amid a long-term increase in the use of food banks in the UK, with the Trussell Trust, the anti-poverty charity which runs a network of food banks across the UK, reporting a rise in demand for food parcels of between 37 per cent between 2021/22 and 2022/23. and a further 4 per cent increase between 2022/23 and 2023/24.
In a joint statement from Ms Hill and FareShare chief executive Kris Gibbon-Walsh, the two charities said: “After years of campaigning by charities to redistribute food, we are delighted to see this fund come to fruition.
“We are pleased that the government has recognized that too much food is going to waste on our farms and that it needs to be redistributed to feed people who need it.”
They added: “We look forward to working quickly with government, the charity sector and farmers to maximize the impact of this initiative during the UK growing season, ensuring surplus food reaches as many people as possible.
“We have a proven model that funds farmers to redistribute their unsold food, which means that together we can take significant steps towards achieving a zero-waste Britain.”
Project Felix volunteers have already saved almost 100 tons of fresh produce this year alone. The Independent has previously partnered with the charity as part of its Help the hungry campaign.
The funding will enable the charity to expand its operations, ensuring surplus food reaches those in need, the organization said.
Meanwhile, Defra estimates the initiative could save 27,000 tonnes of food a year – the equivalent of 60 million meals.