This is one of those initiatives you come across that makes the end of a grey London Monday feel a whole lot better.
Plan Zheroes is an organisation and interactive website where charities needing food can hook up with companies with excess food that they would normally chuck in the bin.
The UK food retail industry sends 1.6 million tonnes of surplus food to landfill every year.
This could be distributed instead to some of the 4 million people in the UK currently classed as suffering from 'food poverty'.
Initiatives like this do already exist, for example the Pret Charity Run that you can read about here and FareShare which aims to redistribute 20,000 tonnes of food per year (and who are always grateful for more volunteers).
Plan Zheroes says that although these organisations do a great job, they aren't a comprehensive solution and many companies are still falling through the net and throwing away food that could be diverted to people in need.
So in steps Plan Zheroes as a network for the retailers with the surplus food to find the charities needing the food, and vice versa.
The really clever part of Plan Zheroes is its interactive map, which allows companies and charities to plot themselves on it with details of what they can give/need. Then they can see each other, connect, and get redistributing!
This grassroots approach means that food establishments and charities of any size can sign up, so that even your local corner shop could donate.
Further reading:
Clear explanation of food poverty here
Faculty of Public Health food poverty brief, with statistics on the sorts of illnesses it causes here
On the growing crisis of food poverty in the recession here
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| One of Carl Warner's many amazing food pictures - there are more on his website here |
Why does this need to be done?
The UK food retail industry sends 1.6 million tonnes of surplus food to landfill every year.
This could be distributed instead to some of the 4 million people in the UK currently classed as suffering from 'food poverty'.
Initiatives like this do already exist, for example the Pret Charity Run that you can read about here and FareShare which aims to redistribute 20,000 tonnes of food per year (and who are always grateful for more volunteers).
Plan Zheroes says that although these organisations do a great job, they aren't a comprehensive solution and many companies are still falling through the net and throwing away food that could be diverted to people in need.
The really clever part of Plan Zheroes is its interactive map, which allows companies and charities to plot themselves on it with details of what they can give/need. Then they can see each other, connect, and get redistributing!
This grassroots approach means that food establishments and charities of any size can sign up, so that even your local corner shop could donate.
 |
| Another Carl Warner, because I love them |
youcanarguewithstupid
Further reading:
Clear explanation of food poverty here
Faculty of Public Health food poverty brief, with statistics on the sorts of illnesses it causes here
On the growing crisis of food poverty in the recession here
