Tonnes of food destined for landfill distributed to the vulnerable and hungry
01 February 2012
Perfectly good food diverted from landfill feeds tens of thousands of vulnerable, hungry people on the island of Ireland.
Perfectly good food diverted from landfill feeds tens of thousands of vulnerable, hungry people on the Island of Ireland.
FareShare Island of Ireland is the devolved Community Food Network operating the innovative food distribution model, made successful by FareShare in GB. It opened its first depot in Belfast’s Weavers Court Business Park last year and is working to relieve food poverty on the island of Ireland. The operation receives surplus food from producers and distributors throughout Northern Ireland and distributes it to local charities, delivering tens of thousands of meals to vulnerable, hungry people.
Environment Minister Alex Attwood, whose Department helped to fund the scheme, said: "The FareShare project is providing a vital service to communities in our area. If it wasn't for this project a lot of discarded food might be wasted. Through engaging local volunteers FareShare manage to re-distribute this food to local communities that in this current economic climate need it most.
“As well as helping to reduce over 23.5 tonnes of food from landfill, this project is making a real difference to charities across Northern Ireland such as Homestart Antrim, Lighthouse Hostel and Friendship House. I would like to commend FareShare and their volunteers for their dedication to this worthy cause. It is a measure of our times that there is a demand for projects like this. I will be discussing with the scheme how it might develop and how the NI Government may help.”
Alison Upton, Business Development Officer for FareShare Ireland added: “It is anticipated that the new Belfast depot will supply food to 45 projects by the end of the first year. The food redistributed has already contributed towards over 72,000 meals for marginalised people in the first nine months of the operation. We are delighted with the progress we have made, and look forward to widening this service to the North West by bringing more local food companies on board and recruiting a new delivery partner.”
The Belfast depot has been opened with funding from the Department for the Environment NI, Food Standards Agency NI and SafeFood (FSPB), Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Sodexo. Additional considerable support has come from Morrows Communications and Montgomery Refrigeration.
