During Recycling Week 14 – 20 October, we showcased some of the great work being undertaken by EMERGE 3Rs. Collectively, we are EMERGE Recycling, FareShare Greater Manchester and Touch Wood. We highlighted the work FareShare GM does with partners in the food industry to reduce waste and recycle food.
FareShare Greater Manchester has been working with the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, GXO, since before the pandemic. FareShare Greater Manchester’s collaboration with the GXO Surplus Food Partnership has made a significant impact on food waste reduction, with GXO donating 13.9 tonnes of food in just the last year alone.
“GXO and our customer, Greene King, aim to send zero food waste to landfill. When we first started looking at options, FareShare Greater Manchester was an obvious choice due to the number of people and communities they support,” says Hannah Chaffey-Green, Operations Director at GXO.
“Working with Fareshare helps us to meet our goal of reducing waste while also supporting those in need,” Hannah adds.
FareShare Greater Manchester’s Head of Development, Ruth Downes says GXO helped us in other ways, not just food donations. “Before we had our current freezer capacity, GXO and Greene King offered us freezer storage so we could accept a large donation of frozen food. This prevented many pallets of ice cream going to waste and in turn we were able to get it out to our community members quickly and efficiently.”
Surplus food
The GXO Surplus Food Partnership not only helps FareShare GM reduce food waste but also ensures that surplus food reaches those in need across the Greater Manchester area, benefiting local communities. Recycling surplus food with FareShare Greater Manchester also boosts staff morale as Hannah Chaffey-Green explains, “Our colleagues love that we support local charities, and always contribute to internal food bank donation drives. We also share information about where the surplus food ends up as our teams want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing.”
Hannah says the impact of such donations are huge and hopes other companies will be keen to donate their surplus food to FareShare. “Giving a little or a lot, it all helps the local community so much. Once processes are in place, it’s really straight forward.”
If you would like to find out more about sending your surplus food to FareShare Greater Manchester, get involved to see how you can contribute. You can also get in touch by calling 0161 223 8200 or email Ruth Downes at ruth@emergemanchester.co.uk.
