In the age of the supermarket, we can go down the aisles and fill our trolleys until we are content. We do our weekly supermarket sweep, only really thinking about staying within our budget. We pack our groceries in recycled bags and walk home to save on the petrol. Whilst storing away our food, packed into fridge-freezers and cupboards, we can enjoy living in the modern world with food at our fingertips.

As we busy ourselves with plans for dinner, sorting out what the kids will eat tonight, spare a thought for the vast amounts of food that has stayed on the shelf. The reason being is that there is a scandalous disregard for food by those same supermarkets. Alot of the edible food gets thrown away each night.

Supermarkets add to the huge amounts of food going into landfills. Seventeen million tonnes of food are being thrown away every year. What is more concerning is that four million tonnes of the food is perfectly okay to eat. Some supermarkets say they have no provision for the surplus stock.

We currently have four million Brits who cannot buy healthy food due to living on low wages and an estimated 4 in every 1,000 people who are homeless in the UK.

The food that goes into landfills every year could surely be redistributed to those individuals who need it most. The cost of transporting food into the dump is less then it would cost to set up a system in which food that is still edible could be given to people. Even though the inevitable cost of continuing to dump food into the ground does not seem to come into the equation.

Luckily there is an organisation that is negotiating with the supermarkets, taking their surplus stock and providing homeless hostels and charities with extra food to feed their vulnerable people.

FareShare is an organisation that originally was part of the Crisis group, which broke away to focus its attention directly on food redistribution. The company now operates in 12 locations around the UK and has been providing food to vulnerable groups since 2004.

Tony Lowe, chief executive of FareShare believes that: “Our vision is to create a unique nationwide solution for the sustainable management of both quality surplus food and food waste. It aims to do this through maintaining the support from its existing food and drink industry partners and other businesses, by working collaboratively with them and by appealing to more businesses for support.”

FareShare works by visiting supermarkets with their lorries, filling up with the surplus food and then driving back to their depots. Volunteers sort through the food and make parcels that would then be delivered to various charitable organisations within the catchments area. The whole operation has a quick turn around with many FareShare operations having to deliver twice a week.

The volunteers come from all sorts of backgrounds and people have been known to gain useful employment through FareShare. The volunteers receive food hygiene and health and safety training which can then be used in further employment opportunities elsewhere.

Tim, who had been living on the streets of London after becoming homeless, began to volunteer for FareShare once a week. Tim regularly used homeless facilities to have a shower, get some clean clothes and something good to eat. It was at the homeless centre that Tim noticed the FareShare deliveries and decided to help out.  Tim had previously worked in the RAF for 12 years and the NHS for 10, so was able to use his previous knowledge in FareShare’s operation. Tim not only gained some self worth but also managed to find accommodation and employment. Tim now regularly volunteers with FareShare whenever he can.

Tim endorses the work by saying: “My time at FareShare not only gave me some great work skills and recognised qualifications. It gave me back my confidence to return to the job market, and re-establish a strong work ethic.

“At the same time, having been a beneficiary of FareShare food, when I was on the streets, I knew that – by volunteering at FareShare – I was also helping a great cause, getting food to people who were in a situation similar to the one I had been in.”

In the last year, FareShare managed to redistribute 4.5 million meals, which saved local charities £5 million. There are over 500 FareShare Community Members across the UK receiving food, training and advice. An average of 25,000 people benefit from the service that FareShare provides every single day.

The environment also benefits from the activities. In the last year along, 19,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions were reduce just by businesses using FareShare instead of sending surplus food into landfill.

The government has taken note of this amazing organisation and at a recent launch of Fareshare’s three year plan, Joan Ruddock MP and waste minister, had nothing but praise for the organisation.

“FareShare has certainly come a long way in the last few years, earning the respect and support of some of the most important players in the food manufacturing and retail sector, and becoming the recommended route for the disposal of surplus food for some of the country’s biggest retailers. I congratulate you on this remarkable achievement”.