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Food waste in the UK

Author profile picture Alice
i
Recipient profile picture Robert Courts
i
12 October
Dear Robert Courts,
I am writing to you with a question: is it right that we throw away perfectly good-to-eat food whilst 1 in 8 families in the UK struggle to afford to eat? I would like to think that, for most people, the answer to this question is an obvious 'no'. So why, according to charity FareShare, is it currently ‘cheaper for farmers to waste good-to-eat food than to get it to frontline charities putting meals on people's plates'? This unfortunate fact has seen an estimated 2 million tonnes of edible surplus food per year left trapped in the supply chain (according to WRAP), instead of being allocated to where it is most needed: to families who cannot afford food. I am also writing to you with a proposal. I urge you to speak out as a leader, as a representative of your constituency’s concerns, but primarily, as a human with compassion for the people of this country. Please, raise this issue of food wastage in the House of Commons and ask for a reinstatement of the ‘Food Waste Fund’. This previous government backing, running from 2019 to 2020, helped thousands of farmers to rescue their unsold, completely fresh food, distributing it to food-driven charities across the UK. The permanent axing of this funding will undoubtedly come with serious consequences. FareShare has estimated that, without it, we can expect to see 53m meals wasted annually, food that could be diverted to a growing number of UK families who are struggling to put food on their children’s plates (The Trussell Trust reported a 33% increase in the number of three-day emergency food parcels distributed in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20). On top of this, the environmental impact of wasting perfectly good-to-eat produce is alarming. A recent report from NGO WRAP states that simply ‘mitigating the 4.4 million potatoes wasted in the UK every day, would have the same climate impact, within a year, of planting six million trees.' I am currently a volunteer at Witney Food Revolution, an organisation which I am sure you will have heard of, being located in your constituency. My experience volunteering here over the past year has enabled me to witness the positive impacts of food redistribution. In August alone, we managed to save 6,232 kilos of food surplus, reallocating it to members of our community (on a non-exclusive basis). Whilst this is certainly a positive figure, we simply cannot operate without funding. A permanent axe to the Food Waste Fund could see the devastating consequences laid out above become a reality, with organisations like ours unable to carry on. On top of this funding, I am wondering what other measures we could see implemented to help avoid the impacts of food waste. Perhaps the introduction of legislation to make supermarkets responsible for giving excess produce to charities? Waste education in schools? Community composts in cities? Use of food waste bins being mandatory across the whole of the UK? These are just a few suggestions, but I look forward to hearing your views on these proposals. I hope I have convinced you of some reasons that this particular issue is one I feel is worth pursuing. With organisations in your community doing their bit to tackle food waste, we now need your help in pushing this further. A response to this email, as well as a push for funding into food waste, would help to secure a more sustainable future for this and future generations. I hope that you, as my local MP, will fight for the organisations that give this area a sense of community – one that many could not live without. Yours sincerely, Alice Williamson

Alice

Author profile picture Alice

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