M&S, Neighbourly and FoodSavers

News from back in December:

LOCAL CHARITY FOODSAVERS BENEFITS FROM M&S PUDSEY’S FOOD WASTE SCHEME 

• M&S Pudsey has donated over 195,000 meals to local charity, Foodsavers  
• 54.6 million surplus food donations have been distributed to 2,483 charities and community organisations across England since the M&S x Neighbourly partnership began in 2015  

M&S Food halls across England have donated 54.6 million surplus food packages to charities and organisations across the country since 2015. Local store, M&S Pudsey has played a vital role in the high-street retailer’s food waste scheme, donating 195,000 meals to local charity, FoodSavers.

This year, as the cost-of-living continues to be top of mind with more people across England reliant on food charities to access good quality food, the partnership has seen over 14,331,416 meals donated across the country – an increase on last year’s 12,958,659.

FoodSavers is just one of the projects to benefit from this partnership as it has received thousands of donations from the M&S Pudsey store. The charity provides high quality fresh and store cupboard food for a low weekly membership.

These donations contributed to Marks & Spencer achieving its UK wide milestone of 70 million meals to local charities with long-standing food redistribution partner Neighbourly.

Since the launch of the surplus partnership in 2015, M&S have been working with Neighbourly to redistribute surplus food from store, which is too good to waste, to more than 3,000 local charities and community organisations across the UK. To date, the partnership has supported over 4.5 million individuals, with meal donations supporting families in need, young people and those with disabilities.

The Store Manager at M&S Pudsey, commented:

Doing the right thing for the people and communities, we serve has always been important to M&S and we are delighted to be supporting these wonderful causes with our surplus food. This partnership with Neighbourly has enabled us not only tackle food waste in our stores but also ensure our delicious food, which is too good to waste, can support those in need when they need it most. I want to thank our incredible store colleagues for their ongoing efforts to make this partnership such a success.

Julie Thompson, CEO at FoodSavers, said:

FoodSavers has been partnered with M&S Pudsey for many years. We’ve collected the equivalent of over 195,000 meals worth of surplus from this store which has been distributed locally to individuals who are in need of support, so they can have access to affordable and healthy food. It has been an amazing partnership which has helped many people.” Their food team have always been so supportive no matter how busy they are, they are to be commended for their exceptional service and commitment.

Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly commented:

M&S was one of Neighbourly’s founding partners and was the first business to launch a nation-wide food redistribution scheme through the platform in 2015, alongside their local charity of the year programme. The surplus scheme has gone from strength to strength over the past 8 years, with the launch of new technologies that have enabled more surplus food to get out into the communities where it’s needed, building long-lasting relationships between store teams and neighbourhood charities whilst also having a tremendous positive environmental impact. 70 million meals are an incredible milestone and is down to the hard work of M&S colleagues, their charity partners and thousands of community volunteers. Sadly, the cost-of-living crisis means more families than ever are relying on local good causes for food and emergency aid – particularly in the run up to Christmas, and this food is a vital resource.

Last month, M&S announced a new partnership with Fareshare, to redistribute surplus food from within its supply chain. Working with long-term supplier 2 Sisters Food Group, M&S is donating one million freshly prepared, nutritious ready meals in the 8 weeks leading up to Christmas.