🌱 Cotswold Fayre x City Harvest: Inside a Perfect Partnership
Featuring Cotswold Fayre, City Harvest, Tesco, Olio, and more
Happy Friday!
This week we cover:
Cotswold Fayre: Sourcing sustainability at scale.
Partnering with City Harvest: Everything you need to know.
In case you missed it: Rubies in the Rubble are packing a punch in the fight against food waste. Featuring Jenny Costa, Founder, and CEO.
> Good News This Week
🎯 Pieminister joined forces with Forestry England to plant a new forest as part of their #EatPiesPlantTrees campaign running until September 2021.
🎯 Kingmills announced its manifesto to ‘create lasting change in 2021 and beyond’, which included introducing recycled content into its Kingsmill 50/50 No Crusts packaging from September 2021.
⭐️ Lidl announced that it was launching sustainability labels across its own-brand products in Scotland from October 2021.
⭐️ Tesco completed the installation of recycling collection points for soft and flexible plastics at its UK stores.
⭐️ Tesco and Olio partnered up to save five million meals going to waste in one year, the equivalent of 196 London double-decker buses.
⭐️ London-based Oddbox raised £16 million to help fight food waste with its fruit and vegetable box delivery services.
⚡ Nearly half of shoppers surveyed think supermarkets need to do more to reduce plastic usage, according to research conducted by Toluna.
⚡UK climate-tech startups raised over £1 billion from investors last year suggesting that the UK's climate tech sector "has moved firmly into the venture capital mainstream".
> Click on each link to read more
> Brand Spotlight
Cotswold Fayre: Sourcing sustainability at scale.
Established in 1999 by Paul Hargreaves, Cotswold Fayre is an artisan food wholesaler with strong environmental and social initiatives. It keeps good company: among 400 suppliers, 20 boast B Corp status, including the likes of Rubies in the Rubble, The Collective Dairy, and Tony’s. Cotswold Faye gained B Corp status themselves in 2015, achieving a score of 83.4. They’ve continued to improve, achieving an impressive 107.8 in 2020/2021. Further demonstrating its commitment to its people and community, and the environment, Cotswold Fayre have committed themselves to the B Corp Net Zero 2030 pledge.
A partnership with the app Too Good To Go has provided a local solution to food waste, offering consumers the opportunity to purchase unwanted food at a discounted rate. In 2020 alone, 23.1 tonnes of surplus stock was donated to City Harvest - a London-based food redistribution charity - reducing food waste and feeding those most in need. Additional partnerships with offsetting organisations Natural Capital Partners (carbon) and rePurpose Global (plastic) have earned the wholesaler operational and usage neutrality. Financially, support is provided at local and international level to Wokingham food bank and Bala Children’s centre in Kenya respectively.
Earlier this year, Paul embarked upon another project alongside Paul Castle to launch an environmentally-friendly food hall and restaurant, called Flourish. Flourish is a sustainability haven featuring reclaimed materials for furniture, heat recovery systems for hot water and heating, electrical vehicle charging points, rainwater harvesting for toilets, and solar-generated electricity. What’s more, food waste minimising AI technology by Winnow is in use in the kitchen, as well as dry produce refill stations in partnership with packaging-cutting heroes, UnpackagedAT.
Interested? Read Cotswold Fayre’s full report here.
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> Quick Take
Partnering with City Harvest: Everything you need to know.
Every year, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food is either lost or wasted - that’s 1/3 of global food production. The environmental damage is extensive; not only exerting pressure on natural resources but also contributing to 8-10% of all man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2018, the UK’s food waste stood at 9.5 million tonnes, carrying an emissions bill of 25 million tonnes CO2e - the same as 10 million cars. Although down from 11.2 million tonnes in 2007, the UK will be required to reduce its food waste further if it is to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030 and delivering the Courtauld Commitment 2030 targets. In order to achieve these commitments, 1.8 million tonnes of food waste will need to be cut by 2030 with more than 500,000 tonnes of this from across the supply chain.
There’s reason to be optimistic though. The UK tripled its redistribution efforts between 2015 and 2020, saving 320,000 tonnes of surplus food - providing the equivalent of 760 million meals. In 2020 alone, 92,000 tonnes was redistributed and of this, 70% was sent via charitable channels - a figure up from 40% in 2015. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) however, has suggested that there is the capacity for the UK to more than double its 2020 efforts, demonstrating the sheer volume of food there is still to be rescued.
So how can you - a business with surplus food - be part of the solution? Consider donating it to a local food bank or redistribution organisation. Your donation will have a profound impact - helping to feed those most in need whilst also reducing GHG emissions.
So here’s City Harvest to answer some key questions about donating (and volunteering):
How can organisations approach City Harvest?
Contact the food team directly on +44 (0) 207 041 8491 or email: food@cityharvest.org.uk
How regularly can donations be made?
Donations can be made on an ad-hoc basis or frequently - the latter is dependent on a meeting with the food team
What can be donated?
Vegetables, fruit, salad, dairy, meat, fish, ready meals, tins, packets, boxes, and frozen food. Flowers, plants, and household items will also be accepted!
What is the impact of a donation?
1 tonne (roughly 2 pallets) of food per month equates to 2,400 meals per month or 28,000 meals per year. 10 tonnes of food is redistributed per day to some of City Harvest’s 360 charities.
How can my donation reach City Harvest?
Preferably, donations are dropped directly to the depot. However, City Harvest will collect from local London partners providing vans are fully loaded. Third-party hauliers are used to collect any donations outside of London.
What are the benefits of partnering with City Harvest?
Quarterly impact reports of donations
Reduced “waste” disposal costs
Joint marketing campaigns via social media exposure
Receive support for Corporate Social Responsibility mission and vision
What volunteer opportunities are there?
Sign up as an individual or join as an organisation through the Corporate Volunteer programme
Want to learn more?
> In case you missed it
💥 #6 - Rubies in the Rubble are packing a punch in the fight against food waste.
Featuring Jenny Costa, Founder, and CEO. Psst, there's a discount code at the end!
> Follow up with…
Resource: clever carbon
Resource: Can Marketing Save The Planet