Bidfood Sustainability Report 2021

It was well publicised during the pandemic that domestic food waste

decreased significantly. There are many reasons for this; potential food

shortages were perhaps more tangible, consumers were perhaps living more

mindfully, eating at home far more and also perhaps had more time to be

creative with using leftovers in the kitchen. This was great to hear, as food

waste is a significant but still barely acknowledged contributor to climate

change, and behaviour change is key, as domestic food waste is greater

than industry waste. We enthusiastically supported Food Waste Action Week

in March 2021, as this week plays a bit part in consumer awareness. We

were a supporting partner to WRAP for Food Waste Action Week and spread

messages amongst our employees about why food waste matters, and the

part they can play in reducing it. L4 It's so important to continue to promote

these messages, as domestic food waste has started to increase.

Fareshare, along with other charities around the UK has done a great job of

redistributing food to communities in the pandemic; this was operationally

challenging for them, given the surge in volume at each lockdown but their

impact report for 2020 shows how they rose to the challenge and redirected

our food to people in need: L9

Insert P16 Fareshare 2020 Impact report image

Although we donated a great deal to Fareshare, donations from the

wholesale sector account for only 3% on average of the total food going into

the Fareshare network. We have publicised both Fareshare and WRAP's

Food Surplus Network to our suppliers and on plate2planet LinkedIn group,

in the hope that more perfectly good food is diverted from waste bins and

redirected to people that can benefit.

Emma Brown, Commercial Officer at Fareshare commented: L3

'We are very grateful for the support we have had from Bidfood over the

years, which has enabled us to provide charities and community groups with

a wide variety of food. With support from Bidfood, we have been able to

provide the equivalent of over 600,000 meals to vulnerable people across the

UK.'

In August 2021 we wrote out to all our suppliers to encourage them to use

Fareshare, make use of the Food Waste Reduction Network where possible

and also give them information about anaerobic digestion, to help avoid

landfill and to promote waste to energy when all other redistribution options

have been exhausted. L36

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Engaging our

Communities

Index