Item 1 Glasgow City Council 3rd June 2014 Regeneration and the Economy Policy Development Committee
Report by Executive Director of Development and Regeneration Services
Contact: Kevin Rush Ext: 74613
FARESHARE GLASGOW
Purpose of Report:
The purpose of this report is to inform members of the development, growth and impact of the FareShare Glasgow project.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that members consider the content of this report.
Ward No(s): Citywide:
Local member(s) advised: No Consulted: Yes Yes
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Y:\Swap\wybera_Document_90485.doc 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 FareShare is a national organisation that has been operating since 2004 and currently has 18 franchise partner locations around the UK. It addresses two key issues through its work; food poverty and food waste. FareShare takes surplus food from manufacturers and retailers that is still within its sell by date, and feeds more than 26,000 people daily. It keeps the same hygiene standards of any mainstream distributor and ensures that the food remains appropriately frozen, chilled or at ambient temperature. FareShare then redistributes the produce to organisations that look after people with no or low income. For example, homeless hostels, substance misuse projects, centres for refugees or the elderly.
1.2 Any organisation tackling food poverty can be considered as a potential recipient. Eager not to create dependence on free food, FareShare’s wares are only available to people who are willing to accept other services to help them out of the poverty trap. FareShare is largely run by volunteers and it creates training and volunteering opportunities around the essential life skills of safe food preparation, nutrition and employability training. The vast majority of volunteers start out as members of the “client group” who receive food.
1.3 FareShare has four delivery partners in Scotland; in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, providing food to more than 90 charities, including omeless shelters, women’s refuge centre and nurseries, feeding 4,500 people every day.
1.4 FareShare operates differently to foodbanks. The charities to which FareShare gives food are responsible for preparing and serving food on-site and using it to make nutritious food for their beneficiaries. This food plays a critical role in helping these charities to engage with their clients. Once through the door, charities can offer support to help clients tackle wider issues including homelessness, addiction and domestic violence and address the causes of why that person is struggling to feed themselves.
1.5 Charities which join a FareShare franchise pay an annual fee of £1,000 and are known as Community Food Members (CFMs). On average, they receive regular food deliveries which, annually amounts to around £13,000 worth of food, thus reducing their food bills. The majority use these savings to provide more support services for their clients.
Y:\Swap\wybera_Document_90485.doc 2. FARESHARE GLASGOW PROJECT BACKGROUND
2.1 In 2011, Development and Regeneration Services (DRS), in partnership with the Glasgow Homelessness Network and Move On, a homelessness/Employability charity, established an Advisory Group to explore setting up a FareShare franchise for the Glasgow area. This Group now includes representation from the Health Board and Jobs and Business Glasgow. A franchise agreement was negotiated with the national FareShare organisation and FareShare Glasgow (FSG) was launched as a six-month pilot project in summer 2012 using Council funding and donated premises.
2.2 The pilot was a success and subsequently was awarded Big Lottery funding of £310,000 over five years to cover the employability element of the project. Additional funding was also secured from the Scottish Government’s Opportunities for All programme. This enabled a full FareShare franchise to open in Glasgow in January 2013. Warehouse premises were secured in Port Dundas and a lease was taken out on a refrigerated van.
3 FARESHARE GLASGOW (FSG)
3.1 FSG provides efficient and cost effective redistribution of high quality, surplus food to charitable organisations that would otherwise have gone to waste. Thousands of tonnes of food goes to landfill each year because of, for example, packaging errors, over-ordering or out of date promotions, but is still within its sell by date and suitable for use. FSG distributes the food to organisations that work with vulnerable people in the community, including hostels, day centres, lunch clubs, addiction agencies and refugee centres. It delivers a food service to those who need it most, with support on nutrition, food hygiene and related issues.
3.2 FSG has an incremental, positive impact on food poverty as the amount of food it distributes develops and increases with each new Community Food Member. FSG sources around 70% of food through FareShare UK and around 30% of food from locally based agreements. CFMs help ensure that people experiencing food poverty spend a lower proportion of their income on basic foodstuffs. Through FSG, these organisations have access to a wide range of surplus food, including dairy, fresh fruit and
Y:\Swap\wybera_Document_90485.doc vegetables, bread, fresh meat and frozen food, with which to feed people who are experiencing food poverty.
3.3 FSG provides a method for engaging, developing and supporting young people in a way that is not currently being met by statutory or voluntary provision. FSG enables them to acquire transferable skills and experience in a wide range of supply chain industries. The volunteers are with FSG for a limited time, learning the essential life skills of safe food preparation and nutrition as well as warehouse employability training and hands-on experience for 16 hours per week over a period of up to 9 months. This is facilitated through Big Lottery funding.
3.4 Since the launch of FareShare Glasgow in January 2013, it has:-
x Distributed 120 tonnes of food
x Served meals to 2,930 beneficiaries each week, equating to 285,720 meals in total
x Recruited 27 Charitable CFMs, (inc. Blue Triangle Housing, Addaction and Garnethill Multicultural Centre), each saving an average of £13,000 on their annual food bills
x Assisted 40 formerly homeless young people into further training, education and /or employment
4 FUTURE GROWTH PLANS
4.1 FareShare Glasgow has already outgrown its current premises and has taken a lease on a second overspill warehouse in Kinning Park. This is seen as a temporary measure and new premises which can house the whole operation and accommodate future growth are being sought.
4.2 A new distribution model is being developed which will enable both the number of CFMs and the volume of food to be substantially increased. This is known as ‘hub and spoke’ and will see a new fee structure being introduced which charges circa £1,900 per annum for organisations that require the food to be delivered. Those organisations which can collect food will pay a lesser amount. This change is necessary to enable growth and to ensure financial sustainability in the long run. If FSG is to survive in the long-term it needs to generate as much income as it can through fees from CFMs.
Y:\Swap\wybera_Document_90485.doc 4.3 The amount of food available to FSG is effectively only limited by the ability to store and distribute it. According to FareShare UK, 3.4 million tonnes of food is wasted every year by the food industry in the UK, before it even reaches people’s shopping baskets. FareShare believes as much as 10% of that waste is fit for human consumption, enough for 800 million meals. Instead of being used to feed people, this surplus food is sent to landfill, fed to animals or turned into energy through anaerobic digestion.
4.4 FSG has plans to support the development of two further distribution hubs. Glasgow will remain as the franchise holder, but could enable supplies to be issued across the West of Scotland. To this end, GCC and FSG are discussing expansion plans with North Lanarkshire Council and its Health Board and with CEIS Ayrshire.
5 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 FareShare Glasgow has successfully built up an organisation which meets the needs of people experiencing food poverty; provides volunteering and employment opportunities for vulnerable young people and; imultaneously diverts large quantities of high quality, surplus food from going needlessly to landfill. In addition, it saves money for the charitable CFMs which take out membership and improves the variety and nutritional content of the meals which are consumed by their beneficiaries.
5.2 The core project has been developed using modest amounts of public funding and in-kind resources (from Sustainable Glasgow, Glasgow Works and Move On). The Big Lottery and Opportunities for All funding have solely been used for the training and employability elements and have not contributed to core costs. These have largely been met by the fees from the CFMs.
6. RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that members consider the content of this report.
Y:\Swap\wybera_Document_90485.doc 7. COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLICATIONS
Economic Impact: None
Sustainability: None
Financial: None
Legal: None
Personnel: Continued involvement of a DRS Officer in the ongoing development of this project.
Sustainable None Procurement and Article 19:
Development and Regeneration Services KI/AD Report No 0054.14 Date 8 May 2014
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