FareShare South West, the charity that redistributes food to people in need, recently gathered over 120 of Devon and Cornwall’s political leaders, business innovators, food suppliers, charities and educators for its Spring Summit at Plymouth Argyle Football Stadium. The event showcased the power of collaboration in tackling hunger and food waste in the South West and announced an urgent appeal for a larger warehouse. The charity has outgrown its current facility and can no longer accommodate additional cold storage, packing lines or the expanding volunteer teams that are critical to the charity’s mission, and needs larger premises in place by autumn 2025 to sustain its much needed expanding operations.
Guests at the Plymouth summit heard from Lucy Bearn, CEO of FareShare South West, on the charity’s rapid growth and the challenges of scaling food rescue operations across the region. Lucy said: “Our current warehouse is simply bursting at the seams. Securing a new, larger facility is essential, not just for space, but to ensure that all surplus food we rescue can reach those who need it most.”
“There are very specific challenges in Devon and Cornwall. 19% of children in Devon are currently living in poverty. 23% of children in Cornwall are living in poverty. This rises to 35% in parts of Torbay and 42% in some parts of North Devon and Bodmin. The fact is that we are living in a broken food system. There are so many reasons that food goes to waste including seasonal glut, labelling issues, food that has too short a date to go to the retailers and out-of-season packaging. New legislation in March this year means that businesses in England must dispose of their food waste separate from other waste. This is obviously great but still there is 4.6 million tonnes of good-to-eat food that is going to waste just in the UK. That is the equivalent of 10 billion meals.”
Lucy continued: “For many people they do not have reliable access to affordable and nutritious food. Healthy food is twice as expensive per calorie as unhealthy choices.”
Luke Pollard MP, Labour & Co-op Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton & Devonport and Minister for the Armed Forces in the Ministry of Defence, attended the Spring Summit. He highlighted the concerning rise in the need for food banks, the importance of securing the charity a bigger warehouse and additional delivery vans so it can better distribute food across the region, and appealed to attendees to encourage more people to get involved to work towards ending food poverty. He also stressed how tackling the problem requires action on difficult long term structural problems around wages, housing costs and food availability.
Rebecca Tonks, founder and CEO of St Ewe Free Range Eggs, said: “Education is key. There is a huge disconnect with knowing what to do with the food, not knowing how to cook it or how to preserve and store it. Schools should be bringing back home economics into the curriculum and teaching children basic cooking from scratch skills.”
Shelley Wright, director of Partnerships and Business Development, stated that FareShare South West supports over 75 front facing organisations with the food provided allowing them to support their communities.
FareShare South West acts as a bridge between food waste and hunger, empowering communities to turn an environmental problem into lasting social good. Since opening its doors in 2018, the organisation has tripled its food rescue volume, with demand from frontline charities growing year-on-year.
Key messages from the Spring Summit:
• Right now, over a million people from Gloucestershire to Cornwall are going to bed hungry while tonnes of good nutritious food are thrown away.
• 90% of FareShare South West’s team are volunteers, powering every aspect of food rescue and redistribution.
• 4.6 million tonnes of perfectly good food is wasted every year in the UK, yet only 2% of that surplus is currently rescued.
• 60% of the food FareShare South West distributes is fresh produce – fruit, vegetables and dairy – addressing both nutrition and waste.
FareShare South West is calling on businesses to lend support whether it’s through volunteering, corporate partnerships, financial donations, pro bono expertise or help sourcing new premises. For further information visit: faresharesouthwest.org.uk and follow on Instagram: Faresharesouthwest.
Photo Credit for Feature image and of MP Luke Pollard: Russel Abrahams
