We are celebrating an amazing milestone here at FareShare Yorkshire.
Since October 2018 our team has collected 1,131 tonnes of surplus food from going to waste across Yorkshire and the North. That’s everything from meat and cheese, to fresh fruit & vegetables, all by sourcing surplus locally and utilising our own logistics.
Growers, manufacturers, processors, packhouses, distributors and third party logistic companies are some of the industry partners that routinely support us by making their surplus available for collection. By doing this they prevent good food from going to waste and have enabled an additional 2.7M meals for frontline organisations so far.
Our “Regional Logistics Solution” has played a huge role in this, with our 7.5 tonne lorry collecting around 30% of all incoming food and enabling us to rise to the challenge of the health and haulage crises.
Our national partner FareShare UK work incredibly hard to raise funds so that food can be transported to us and other FareShare Regions where companies do not have their own logistics. In Yorkshire we currently operate two 7.5 tonne lorries and nine 3.5 tonne vans that can backhaul surplus food from food partners to our Barnsley or Leeds regional centres on week days.
Jonathan Williams our Head of Development said;
“On behalf of the 450+ charities and community groups we serve each year I want to express our sincere gratitude to all the food partners who enable us to operate our provision. Since 2018 we have received the generous support of over 750 food sites across the UK which is just incredible. Locally we have seen so many new opportunities arise over the last few years because WRAP funded us to trial regional logistics back in 2018. By providing logistics to food partners who find them a barrier, we have proven that so much more can be done across the UK to prevent food waste through simple solutions.”
The Community Food Members we serve have benefitted massively from fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh milk, fresh bread, sliced meats, chocolates, mixed trays of groceries, teas and coffees, freshly baked cakes, jars of sauces, cereals and much else.
Cortonwood Community Comeback are one of hundreds of charities benefitting from this success. Denise, from the organisation, said;
“Over the pandemic, we saw a diverse range of people referred to us for many different reasons. We wouldn’t be able to support the amount of people we do if we weren’t a Community Food Member.”
If your food business is interested in our collection service and want to benefit thousands of individuals across Yorkshire with surplus food, please contact Jonathan Williams at [email protected] or give us a call on 01226 213 255.
