Melbourne's surplus food to feed hungry and homeless

Surplus food from inner-city Melbourne supermarkets will be used to prepare healthy meals for Melbourne’s hungry and homeless people as part of a new initiative.

The Prahran, Balaclava, Kew and Fitzroy Woolworths stores (operating as Safeway) have joined forces with FareShare, a not-for-profit organisation that rescues surplus food and turns it into healthy meals with the help of volunteers at its Abbotsford kitchen.

“The commercial and industrial sector in Victoria wastes over 140,000 tonnes of food each year, which produces around 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas,” said Marcus Godinho, FareShare CEO.

“And enough food to fully stock 30,000 supermarkets is dumped at tips across the state annually. That equates to 750,000 tonnes of landfill per year.

“Rescuing food from Melbourne’s inner city supermarkets will help welfare agencies who are struggling with the increasing demand on their services and the rising cost of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.

“Landfill charges in Victoria has increased substantially and this is prompting companies like Woolworths to rethink what they do with their surplus food. Joining forces with FareShare will not only benefit charities and the environment, but have a positive impact on their bottom line.”

Mr Godinho says that this regular supply of food will benefit the growing number of working poor turning to charities across Melbourne.

“This new partnership highlights how the food industry can put food wastage to better use and make a significant difference to the environment and to the lives of those doing it tough, especially in these economic times.

“In the last year FareShare has given away 350,000 meals and an additional 200 tonnes of food.

“We’re really excited that our new partnership with Woolworths is bringing us closer to achieving our goal of one million meals this year. We look forward to even more stores getting on board to help Melbourne’s hungry, homeless and increasingly working poor.”

For more information about FareShare or to make a donation visit: www.fareshare.net.au