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Take Action: Save Millions of Tonnes of Food Going to Waste

3 minute read

Britain is a country famous for food – we host the exceptional ‘Great British Bake Off’, we have colourful curries, perfect pies and fantastic fish and chips – all diverse culinary treats. But is there anything ‘Great’ about the 4.5 million tonnes of food that we as a Nation throw away?

It’s also not great that 1.4 million children live in homes where they don’t know if their next meal will come.

You simply cannot think that you are far away from the pressing issue of food insecurity, coupled with grotesque levels of food waste. 1 in 8 people will go hungry today. How far are you and your family from such a common misfortune – a missed paycheck perhaps? We see the consequences of this around us every day, within how poorer people perform in education to acts of shoplifting done to feed innocent children.


Intertwined with food is the systemic failure of us all to our duty towards the children who have nothing, not even proper sustenance to think coherently without the rumble of their stomach overshadowing all else in their lives. Plenty of people could blame the government, spikes in austerity and grocery shoplifting usually occurring together 4 . However, the power of the people, especially and specifically young people is undeniable. It can be ignored no longer – and isn’t. You don’t need to be a Malala Yousafzai or a Greta Thunberg to change the law.


It actually doesn’t take long for you to make a difference and support FareShare, a charity committed to redistributing perfectly edible food that would otherwise be destroyed.


Food and shelter are deserved by everybody. It is my fiercest belief, and one I will defend to the bitter end. There is simply no such thing as ‘not enough to go around’. This would be refuted by the edible food (the same weight as 4.5 million small cars) being wasted annually.

Join me in supporting FareShare’s #feedpeoplefirst campaign.
Even without donating, you could: share their campaign on social media, organise an edible food waste collection and redistribution in your community or even challenge yourself to go food waste free!

Many, many British children have to suffer hunger and coronavirus has only exacerbated this.
The impact of coronavirus on food security for the most vulnerable will not go away, not for a very long time. We need to make sure FareShare and their workers are in the strongest position to help these families. We need to take bold action to make a real difference – even while sitting at home. I urge you to donate to FareShare’s coronavirus crisis response and let your money go to increasing their services and creating the change we would like to see in the world.

By Hemlata Pant

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