Reducing food waste supports those in need

From forklift training to funding, Lincolnshire Co-op is proud to have helped Lincolnshire’s first food redistribution hub, which is now celebrating its first anniversary.

The FareShare Food Redistribution hub, in Lincoln, opened last year and in the first 12 months it provided community groups with over 222 tonnes of food, equivalent to 528,000 nutritious meals to share with vulnerable families and individuals.

It has 42 community members, like community cafes and pantries, before and after school clubs, homeless hostels and food banks.

Volunteers have donated 6,000 hours of work during the course of the year.

Lincolnshire Co-op initially provided surplus food from 21 food stores – but because our teams are so good at reducing waste, the environmental impact of transporting the products outweighed the benefit of receiving the surplus.

Since then, the society has continued to offer support in numerous ways – such as professional advice and training.

Lincolnshire Co-op and the Lincolnshire Community Foundation provided essential initial funding to launch the depot, which is also supported by the Lincolnshire Food Partnership.

FareShare Midlands has seen growing support for the depot from other local food partners including Gousto, The British Hamper Company and Princes Canned Foods.

FareShare Midlands CEO, Simone Connolly said, “We are so proud of our hardworking Lincoln team and amazed by the amount of surplus food we have helped redistribute to local charities and community groups so far. We cannot thank our partners enough. Without their support, opening this new site would not have been possible. The depot started as a 6-month pilot - however now we can see the range of community groups fighting hunger and poverty, and just how many families and individuals need food and support. The rise in the price of food, fuel and energy has only made the situation worse, but with our Lincoln Depot we will continue to unlock even more surplus food, so that we can be ready to step up as the cost of living crisis continues to bite”.

Lincolnshire Co-op’s Food Operations Project Manager Gavin Willson said “The number of meals the Hub has distributed is an astounding figure, both in terms of reducing food surplus and showing the level of need out there. We’re proud to have worked with the FareShare team to get this project off the ground and then to help make it a success”.