FareShare Yorkshire has been a recipient of generous funding from Defra, supported by WRAP, under the Resource Action Fund.
It was awarded to us by WRAP, which administers the fund on behalf of Defra, to ensure good food does not go to waste and will be split across two of our main focuses.
The first half of the funding focuses on giving us more warehousing space to store the surplus food we receive, more machinery to ensure smooth and efficient operation in the warehouse and more staffing at two sites. The second half of the funding focuses on Yorkshire Storage Hub, our newer project in Leeds, which gives us more warehousing space and a walk in freezer.
Peter Maddox, Director WRAP, said: “We are delighted to help FareShare Yorkshire in its important work through the Resource Action Fund. Resource efficiency projects such as this will help us achieve our goal of preventing waste, and better managing our precious natural resources.”
The Resource Action Fund is an £18 million fund, provided by Defra and managed by WRAP, which supports resource efficiency projects in England in the key areas of food, plastics, textiles, recycling and litter. It does so through a variety of mechanisms including large and small-scale grants.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said; “Nobody wants to see good food go to waste. It harms our environment, it’s bad for business and it’s morally indefensible. By redistributing surplus food, not only do we help vulnerable people, but we save vital energy and resources in the food production chain as well as the disposal process.”
Between the first lockdown (March 23rd 2020) and February 8th 2021:
- 2,321 tonnes of surplus food went out.
- 2,528 tonnes of surplus food came in.
- 321 CFMs were served.
Compared with the same time period in the previous year, there is a 115% increase in food out, 121% increase in food in and 21% increase in the number of charities served. Beneficiary numbers also rose from 24,000 pre-March 2020 to 33,000 at height of pandemic.
Jonathan Williams, Head of Development, said:
“Without WRAP’s support to scale up our operations we would have really struggled over the last 11 months. WRAP’s funding enabled us to respond effectively to the massive spike in frontline needs following the onset of the pandemic and then through subsequent national and local lockdowns.
The vital ambient supplies funded under the government’s winter package posed a huge logistical challenge in a very short amount of time. However, the level of investment from WRAP equipped us with the resources we needed – space, staffing, storage and machinery – to handle the highest volumes in our 22-year history. Our whole team is very grateful.”
