UK Government announces £5 million investment for food waste

The UK Government has announced a £5 million investment for food waste.

The investment will allow redistribution organisations in England to bid into a £5 million pot to help them overcome the financial barrier to redistributing surplus food which is currently going to waste.

Thérèse Coffey, Environment Minister, said: “It is absolutely right that we end the scandal of food waste and this substantial funding will help that happen. We want to build on the great work already being done by businesses, charities and volunteers. Perfectly good food should be on people’s plates and not unnecessarily discarded.”

The investment is the first part of a £15 million scheme that was announced last year to address surplus food from retail and manufacturing.

Presently, around 43,000 tonnes of surplus food is redistributed from retailers and food manufacturers every year. It is estimated that a further 100,000 tonnes of food, equating to 250 million meals a year, is edible and ready but goes uneaten.

Marcus Gover, Chief Executive of WRAP, said: “We welcome the setting up of this fund, which will help to accelerate the redistribution of surplus food from retailers and food manufacturers to people who can benefit from it. It builds on the great work in this area in recent years which has seen millions of meals’ worth of food saved from waste, and which has benefited both society and the environment. It also supports the ambitions of Courtauld 2025 and the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap launched last year.”

This news follows Tesco announcing that they will get rid of their best before dates on all fruit and vegetables in a bid to reduce waste.