« BackNews:

Government Announces £4m Fund To Cut Food Waste

The government has handed out £4 million worth of grants to help reduce the amount of food waste that’s generated in England.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the money will be used by four redistribution companies in England whose aim is to share out the surplus food from retailers and manufacturers with the intention of getting it on people’s plates rather than it going in the bin.

Fareshare, Company Shop Group, The Felix Project and Food Works Sheffield were named as the four organisations that will all receive a share of this round of grant funding. In total, the government has pledged to spend £15 million to tackle the problem of food waste.

They all had to outline the solutions they’d implement when applying for the funding. Among the solutions suggested were developing new supply routes from growers and local distributors, and increasing capacity for repackaging and labelling.

Therese Coffey, environment minister, commented: “Food waste is unnecessary and morally unforgivable. We must end it, and our £15 million fund is a true game-changer in making that happen.”

In addition to funding potential solutions to the food waste issue, the government is also seeking to raise awareness of the problem among households and businesses to get everyone to do their part to reduce the amount of food that goes into our bins.

Earlier this year the government announced that it would introduce weekly food waste collections for all homes in England by 2023. It also pledged financial support to local authorities to help them offer this service if they don’t already do so.

This will allow England to catch up with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which already have weekly food waste collections for all households.

If you need a high-quality pressure relief valve for an anaerobic digestion plant that can handle food waste, get in touch with us today.