Produce World Food Waste Reduction Initiative Receives Waitrose Award
A food waste reduction initiative run by the Produce World Group has received industry recognition at the Waitrose Way Awards. The awards are designed to recognise Waitrose suppliers’ outstanding efforts and achievements in supporting the retailer in delivering ethical and sustainable objectives. Produce World won its award in the ‘Treading lightly – Food waste reduction – Waitrose Own Label’ category for its work with Gleaning UK (part of Feedback) and FareShare.
The Produce World Group is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh vegetables. Its work with Gleaning UK is part of the Group’s approach to reducing waste in the supply chain. A series of gleaning events were organised including:
* Two days at its brassicas trial fields where a variety of vegetables were on offer for gleaning including orange cauliflower and flower sprouts.
* A day gleaning cauliflowers from commercial fields in Boston.
* A festive gleaning day spent at Taylorgrown on the Houghton Estate harvesting Brussels sprouts ready for Christmas.
These gleaning days resulted in approximately 117,000 portions of vegetables being distributed and eaten rather than disposed of. Additional weekly donations of vegetables to food charity FareShare have resulted in a contribution of more than 500,000 meals to date.
Produce World’s head of Research, Development and Innovation, Guy Thallon says: “There are more than five million people in the UK living in food poverty. Inevitably there is waste in the fresh produce supply chain, so if we are able to redirect some of that waste to organisations that have strong established distribution networks, we can make a contribution to solving that problem. What’s more we are able to provide fresh, nutritious food which is not always readily available to those in need. We are delighted that this work has been recognised and we intend to continue to develop our initiatives with Gleaning UK and FareShare, as well as sharing our experience across the industry and the supply chain.”
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Pictured left to right: Guy Thallon; Frank Robinson, group sales and marketing director; and Ed Rees, account director.
