Cranswick launches food waste initiative
It is creating a new stakeholder collective, partnering with free food sharing app OLIO, Hull Food Bank and the social enterprise FULL Food in their native city of Hull, a top-10 food poverty region in the UK.
The new initiative, called the Hull Food Save Project, hopes to “move beyond the food redistribution model” through collaboration to create a new industry-leading participatory, community-based food programme.
The launch of the Hull Food Save Project follows a report by End Child Poverty, which shows that more than a third of Hull children are living in poverty, with more than 20,000 children in the city living below the poverty line.
Through the scheme, Cranswick has committed to sponsoring a full time OLIO Community Market Maker; donating a freezer to FULL Hull and Hull Food Bank and supplying them with a weekly fresh meat donation on an ongoing basis; and supporting community sharing, which will include an emphasis on healthy eating, food skills, cooking lessons and breakfast clubs across the city.
Cranswick will be working with OLIO, leveraging its 5,000 strong employee base in the city and working with the wider Hull community to support the OLIO app initiative and facilitate an internal food-sharing culture.
Chris Aldersley, chief operating officer at Cranswick, said: “We’ve invested in this project because it is Cranswick’s aim to join the Hull community together to tackle the local food waste issue in a way that solves the problem at its core. We’ve listened to the feedback from our employees and we know food waste is an issue close to their hearts, so by actively tackling Hull’s hunger issue head on, it is our hope, as a business and as a community, that we make a difference where it matters most. We would love the Hull Food Save Project to serve as a model for tackling food waste nationwide.”
Tessa Cook, CEO and co-founder of OLIO, said: “We’re delighted to be launching OLIO in Hull with Cranswick’s support. Food waste in the UK is a national problem but one that can be solved locally - and this innovative partnership will help in a number of ways. It is thanks to industry leaders like Cranswick who take action on food waste that the food industry will change.”
Russ Barlow, general manager of Hull Foodbank, added: “Hull Foodbank are so excited and grateful for the work of Cranswick in initiating a community and business-based project to tackle the issues of food poverty and food waste in our area. We look forward to working with all the partners to help alleviate the very real problem of local people experiencing hunger, and work towards a community that is enabled to share food that would otherwise go to waste.”
