EHJ September 2004, pages 276-278
National charity FareShare redistributes quality surplus food from the food industry to organisations working with homeless and vulnerable people. Nick Warburton visited its south Yorkshire flagship and discovered a project bursting with potential

The deserted pithead that greets the visitor on the road out of Barnsley is a nostalgic reminder of a bygone era. At its height in the early 1980s, the coal mining industry, which powered this region, provided a quarter of all jobs. By 1994, every mine had been closed down, leaving a community struggling to come to terms with the loss. The area has seen glimpses of regeneration but the scars run deep.

A couple of miles down the road, an industrial estate looms in to view. The car turns off the main road and winds its way past a parade of large ugly warehouses until finally it comes to a halt beside a white van. The words: "Delivering fresh food for south Yorkshire's homeless people" emblazoned on the side. Underneath it reads "FareShare". At the back, two young men are unloading fresh fruit and vegetables and placing them on a large table to be sorted by two volunteer workers.

Nestled deep in the Yorkshire countryside, few people could possibly have heard of this tiny operation, but FareShare south Yorkshire, one of eight national projects run in partnership with local charities, could offer one solution to the UK's huge food wastage problem, estimated by the Environment Agency to be in the region of 10 million tonnes a year. The wastage poses such a serious problem that the government has made a commitment to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste, including food, from going to landfill by 60 per cent by 2016. "Out of sight, out of mind" as they say.

"People are generally shocked when you tell them about the food waste in this country," says Kath Elliott, project manager at FareShare's flagship site. She should know. FareShare collects quality surplus food from all areas of the food industry and delivers it to local charities that are registered with its programme. But the food donations received are only a tip of the iceberg.

"At the moment we are moving 2,000 tonnes of food, which is a very small percentage of what is out there," adds Tony Lowe, FareShare's managing director, who has driven up from the London headquarters to discuss business with Kath and Neil Morton, a south Yorkshire centre board member and an environmental health practitioner.

Not surprisingly, all three are proud of FareShare's achievements and excited by its tremendous potential. After all, as Tony points out, FareShare has doubled its output in just 12 months. What's more, its plan over the next three years is to set up operations in every region in the UK where there is a defined need. Not bad for a business that has only been operating independently since 1 July.

Set up nearly 10 years ago as a division of Crisis, FareShare's original remit focused entirely on the needs of the homeless. But by recognising its significance in the wider context of health and nutrition, the homelessness charity decided two years ago to float FareShare as an independent organisation. With its new lease of life, the project has branched out to work with vulnerable people, helping those with food insecurities and those living in food poverty.

The way it works is simple. Over 150 companies nationwide donate their surplus food to FareShare's eight centres, which is then redistributed to around 250 charities to be prepared as meals. All recipients have to apply for the surplus food through an application process and must meet strict criteria laid down by FareShare.

This is an important part of the set up. The food industry is obviously concerned about what happens to its food once it has been donated and for this reason, FareShare has put in place controls to prevent any abuse of the system. This includes providing all operatives in the eight centres and at the recipient end with basic food hygiene training, inspecting recipients' kitchens to ensure they meet standards and putting audit trails in place to ensure food doesn't go astray.

Food donations vary from centre to centre but in south Yorkshire's case, most of the redistributed food is fresh fruit and vegetables, donated largely by the Co-op Group. The centre employs three permanent staff supported by volunteers who collect the produce from two warehouse depots. Another major donor is Marks and Spencer, which delivers its surplus food straight to the centre - everything from ready meals to whole chickens and ice cream.

"It's not food that is passed its use-by or passed its sell-by date," stresses Kath. "It's more or less surplus to requirements for the supermarkets. It's completely fresh. There's nothing wrong with it at all."

Nationally, FareShare's redistributions provide over 1.5 million healthy meals to 9,500 homeless and vulnerable people each year. One of its aims is to expand the service across the UK so that thousands more can get access to a healthy diet and support. And there certainly is a need. It has been estimated that four million people in the UK cannot afford a healthy diet, with one-in-seven people over 65 at serious risk of malnourishment.

While each of the eight centres is set up slightly differently, with FareShare the only common factor, south Yorkshire is considered the project's flagship. It is from here that Kath has been busy devising national standards in food hygiene and food handling for each of the centres.

Many of the south Yorkshire centre volunteers come from Nacro, a voluntary organisation that works to prevent crime, and are supported by a mentor who comes in on a weekly basis to oversee their work and discuss any problems. Part of their introductory training involves hand washing, health and safety and first aid. "A lot of our volunteers come from very poor backgrounds and they really don't have a clue about washing their hands," says Neil. "We've literally had to train everybody with very basic life skills."

This is just one of the many positive spin-offs, explains Tony. "A lot of the people volunteering are people who are actually clients of the project. So, people get opportunities to build their self-esteem and get into work. The whole thing has a knock on seismic effect."

"The exciting thing is we are training people and putting them back into business," adds Neil, who cites examples of former volunteers that have gone on to full-time employment as warehouse operatives in other local firms.

Some volunteers are dyslexic, so when the food arrives, it has to be colour coded as well as date stamped. "Some people can't read that food came in on the 25 July but they understand that it came in on a Thursday because there is an orange label," explains Neil.

In south Yorkshire, the centre supports 15 projects. Nine of these are breakfast clubs in schools in deprived areas, where FareShare provides fruit, yoghurt and bread. The benefits that this has brought have not been lost on Kath. "The schools have found that not only has the children's attendance improved, their health has improved and educationally they're working harder," she says.

Another benefit is the cash released for charities that receive the food can be ploughed into other things such as training, medical services and counselling. Neil points to one local example, a women's refuge in Sheffield, where the cash release had a particularly positive impact.

In this case, FareShare had concerns that the large number of wooden surfaces and chopping boards in the refuge kitchen presented a serious hygiene issue. FareShare released so much cash for the refuge that it was able to close its premises and bring in a kitchen fitter. "There's so much stainless steel in there now," laughs Neil, "you have to wear sunglasses."

Neil stresses that FareShare has a strict policy for donating food and doesn't deliver to kitchens that cannot meet tough food safety standards. "We've actually taken off projects because we've not been satisfied with the food hygiene," he says.

The project has clearly been a great success - a fact borne out by the benefits enjoyed by all the partners. "At the moment it's a win-win situation," continues Neil. "The suppliers win because they are not going to be paying for landfill tax. The recipients are winning because they are getting nutritious food. The organisations where the recipients live are winning because they are turning cash releases and savings in to something else. Everybody wins."

That may be so, but the project's funding is in jeopardy. When the south Yorkshire centre first started up, it received funding from a number of sources, including the landfill tax credit but this vital resource ended this year. Unless, it finds alternative sources of funding, the centre may have to close. If this happens, the impact will be widely felt.

"This is the crunch point," says Neil. "Let's say we go out of business at Christmas, where will the bill fall? It will be right back on social services because suddenly they'll have a lot more homeless people, and the PCTs will also be picking up people who are ill because they won't have the nutrition that we've been giving them."

FareShare is looking for large-scale support from the community fund at the national level. Tony also wants the government to provide resources through the landfill tax credit. "We've been talking to Defra about this new landfill tax credit, and what they were saying was, 'at the moment you're only doing 2,000 tonnes and we need a large-scale solution.' What we're saying to them is 'hang on a minute. We're only 2,000 tonnes at the moment but if people invest in us, we are talking about a large-scale solution."

Another source of investment is the food and drink industry, which is currently spending millions of pounds sending quality food to landfill. "To be honest, we want the food industry to be part of that main funding stream because we're providing them with a very valuable service and business solution to their waste food," says Tony.

FareShare is currently undertaking a research project with the industry to find out how it is dealing with its surplus food and to identify its quantity, quality and location. By carrying out this research, FareShare hopes to maximise the surplus food that it can access and redistribute it to meet both the needs of the industry and vulnerable people. As Tony points out, "It's so obvious. You've got all this food that's going in the bin and you've got all these people that need it, so you give it to these people that need it."

To find out more about FareShare, its work and how your local authority could support it, visit: http://www.fareshare.org.uk

Tony Lowe can be contacted on 020 7394 2465.