It has recently been announced that grants starting from £20,000 will be handed to the not-for-profit redistribution sector in England in order to repackage farm food and deliver it to bodies such as food banks and homeless shelters.
Food distribution charities in England will be able to use the funds to buy equipment to collect and process bulky food items, technology to help farms and charities work together and IT training for staff.
According to Mary Creagh, minister for the circular economy, “Nobody wants to see good food go to waste – especially farmers who work hard to put food on family tables across the country. Our new fund will help the charitable sector to work more closely with farmers, helping to find new opportunities to get their world-leading produce to those most in need within our communities.”
More information about the fund and its eligibility criteria will be announced later in January. The government has formed a “circular economy taskforce” that will publish a strategy for the year on how different sectors in England can reduce waste with the goal of halving food waste by 2030.