UK retailer Waitrose is collaborating with food charity FareShare, to use the supermarket's surplus food for distribution to charities for donation within local communities. Joining forces in this way will enable charities accredited by FareShare to collect surplus food products directly from Waitrose branches.
Laura Strangeway, Waitrose manager for sustainability and ethical sourcing, said "Donations offer real community benefit and are the most ethical and environmentally sound solution to the question of what to do with surplus food that would, otherwise, be deemed as waste." She added, "Of course, it is not in our business interest to produce any surplus food, but inevitably some does occur and so we’re really delighted to have teamed up with FareShare and ECE and we look forward to building new relationships with other charities as we redistribute surplus food to those most in need."
FareShare CEO, Lindsay Boswell, commented, "We welcome this initiative that will help us keep up with the increasing demand for good quality food and congratulate Waitrose on doing the right thing with their surpluses."
Waitrose already has a similar partnership with Esther Community Enterprises, a London-based charity. (19 Oct)
© 2012 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
