Salvaging Surplus from the Supermarket Supply Chain

TV programmes showing piles of ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables, and cafes creating meals with surplus food that would otherwise have gone to waste, have highlighted the shocking realities of the nearly two million tonnes of food that gets wasted in the production and sale of food in the UK. This in a time when food poverty is at crisis point.

Thankfully, waste diversion and food redistribution has increased: in 2017, 43,000 tonnes of surplus food was redistributed in the UK. And of course, Bristol has organisations operating throughout the food supply chain and redistributing it to those working with vulnerable people.

The West of England Gleaning Network goes to farms and orchards within an hour of Bristol to pick fruit and veg that has been rejected by supermarkets, such as apples whose skins aren’t red enough. Last year, they mostly collected apples and tree fruit such as plums, leafy vegetables and potatoes. “Farmers are gutted that they put effort into growing things that won’t get eaten,” says Heather Mack, coordinator of the network. Produce is delivered to FareShare Southwest and the Matthew Tree Project for distribution. (Register to volunteer by contacting Heather).

FareShare’s Warehouse. Photo credit: James Darling

FareShare South West has a warehouse in St Agnes and accepts food from the supermarket distribution level and direct from large manufacturers, receiving between six and seven tonnes of food per week that won’t make it to a shop. This could be because the food doesn’t have a suitable shelf life to work it’s way through the system and sit on a shelf for a period of time (even if it is dried item which has months on it), or where a barcode or offer printed on the packaging has changed or weather has affected forecast sales e.g. a rainy bank holiday means less bbq food is bought than anticipated.

“Publicity around food waste, surplus food and food poverty, has led to an uptake in companies engaging with FareShare over the last couple of years,” says warehouse operations manager Charlie Mason, with all the major supermarket chains now supplying them. FareShare supplies organisations around Bristol and the South West with food including school breakfast clubs. During this summer, they saw a surge in holiday hunger clubs requesting food as part of the #ActiveAte scheme and CEO Julian Mines says “We are looking forward to the start of the new term in September, when we will be relaunching our Breakfast Clubs to an additional 15 Bristol schools with the highest levels of deprivation, making a total of 30. We are encouraging schools- especially those where child hunger is a real concern – to get in touch to see how we can provide support.” . You can also join FareShare for the Bearpit Surplus Feast on September 7, tickets available from Wriggle.

Andy eating beans at Millpond Primary Breakfast Club

A number of schemes also collect food from local supermarkets, including Neighbourly, who coordinate schemes with Marks and Spencer and Lidl (Feed It Back) programme with collections from charities including The Matthew Tree Project’s ‘Rebuilding Lives’,  (main image). Despite the name FoodCycle, it’s only in Bristol that the teams collect fruit and veg on bicycles. They distribute and cook a meal with it at Barton Hill Settlement every Saturday. Food Not Bombs also cook surplus food and serve it to the homeless on Stokes Croft on Sundays.

The Bristol FoodCycle team collecting food on bikes.

It is great that good quality food is being united with hungry mouths, but “it’s ridiculous that food waste and food poverty coexist at the same time,” says Harriet Parke, senior consultant at Eunomia, a consultancy helping businesses achieve better environmental and commercial outcomes. To really tackle food waste and surplus, “fully stocked supermarket shelves would need to cease and become acceptable for customers,” she suggests. Jacqui Reeves, previous CEO of FareShare South West concurs, adding that there would need to be a “reduction in the size and scale of food available in stores”. But with concoctions like avocado green tea, turmeric coconut oil and mint chocolate Pringles, being trialled on the supermarket shelves this doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon.

So, whilst it is important that these organisations are redistributing food, the bigger questions are how can food surplus and food poverty be tackled at source? Where is the next campaign asking shoppers and supermarkets to reduce the range? How would you feel if shelves weren’t deeply stocked or there was significantly less crisp varieties in the supermarket aisles?

All the local initiatives mentioned in this article are keen for volunteers and support. Follow the links to get involved with their work.

This article is part of a six month series on waste, investigating what is happening at a local and national level and where Bristol businesses and residents can get involved to make a change.

To find out more about what households need to do to tackle the 7.1 million tonnes of food waste visit: b247.staging.proword.press/lifestyle/environment/dinners-in-the-bin/

Read up on what Bristol’s hospitability businesses are doing to tackle food waste visit: b247.staging.proword.press/lifestyle/environment/thats-not-hospitable/