#feeding 5k

[conservationatukc]

Another day of gleaning complete in the scorching weather that is currently sitting over the UK. A small group of us went out to join other gleaning volunteers for the charity network Feeding the 5K, harvesting strawberries from a farm in Kent that would otherwise be left to rot for distribution to homeless shelters around London. We hand picked these for about five hours, which is nothing compared to the 8+ hours spent picking every day by farm labourers. It was hard!

In the UK, food wastage is a big problem, as food that is grown here does not always meed the aesthetic standards needed to sell it, and agreements with farmers often means that the grower cannot sell to anyone other than the supermarket it has an agreement with. As a result, food that is perfectly good to eat (and incredibly yummy, I found) regularly goes to waste. 

In a time when resources are becoming more stretched, and huge amounts of inequality exist between those who have and those who have not, wastage on this scale is ridiculous - But at least these strawberries went to a good cause!

[conservationatukc]

Our President (Hannah) and Events Officer (Jack) at a Gleaning day in Kent, England. Thousands of tonnes of crop food is wasted every year in the UK when appearance standards of the fruit and vegetables are not high enough for them to be sold in supermarkets. Our society teamed up with Feeding 5K, a charity that rounds up volunteers to harvest these vegetables by hand to then distribute them among homeless shelters in the UK. Despite the freezing weather, it was great fun playing around with machetes and we all got to take home a load of cauliflower and cabbage to compliment our fabulous student diets!

[quisinegroup-blog]

Feeding The 5000

There's something amazing happening this week. Friday is the annual Feed the 5000 event at Trafalgar Square. Organizers plan to provide free lunch for 5000 people made entirely out of fresh ingredients that would otherwise go to waste. Boris Johson will open the event. The goal of the initiative is to show how easy it is to reduce the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally. Activities on site will educate the public on positive solutions to reducing food waste. Here are some unbelievable food waste facts courtesy of Feeding 5K:

All the world's nearly one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe.

2.3 million tonnes of fish discarded in the North Atlantic and the North Sea each year; 40 to 60% of all fish caught in Europe are discarded – either because they are the wrong size, species, or because of the ill-governed European quota system.

An estimated 20 to 40% of UK fruit and vegetables rejected even before they reach the shops – mostly because they do not match the supermarkets' excessively strict cosmetic standards.

The bread and other cereal products thrown away in UK households alone would have been enough to lift 30 million of the world's hungry people out of malnourishment.

If you're near Trafalgar Square on Friday between 12pm to 2pm then check out this worthwhile cause and learn more what you can do to reduce food waste. And we hear they're still in need of some volunteers, get more information at Feeding5K.org.