Vikki Howells AM sees food donation scheme in action at Aberdare store

Cynon Valley AM Vikki Howells learned more about how surplus food is being used to support charities and community groups at a visit to her local Tesco Superstore.

The Aberdare Superstore in Depot Road is one of more than 2,600 Tesco stores taking part in a nationwide scheme to ensure that unsold food does not go to waste, but goes to benefit people in local communities.

The AM met with store colleagues who run the Community Food Connection scheme, which Tesco operates in conjunction with food redistribution charity FareShare. To date the scheme has enabled Tesco’s Aberdare store to donate almost 25,000 meals worth of food to local groups.

Each evening the store is able to use an innovative app, sending a text to a local charity or community group to tell them what unsold food  is available that evening. The group can then collect as much of the donation as they want.

The Assembly Member saw how the donation was prepared and witnessed the donation being handed over to that night’s recipient Ferndale Community School.

Vikki Howells AM said:-

“Each year, around a third of food produced globally is thrown away, and by the end of the next decade the latest research estimates that this will be equivalent to 66 tonnes a second.

“It is therefore crucial that we do all we can to make sure food is not thrown away.

“Tesco’s Community Food Connection project ensures that perfectly good food isn’t binned when the store can go longer sell it – rather, it is used to help some really worthwhile local causes.

“My congratulations to the Tesco team for this proactive initiative, and if you are a Cynon Valley group who could benefit from this, don’t forget to sign up”.

Tesco’s Communications Manager for Wales Rhodri Evans said:-

“All of our team in Aberdare are really proud of the Community Food Connection scheme and the thousands of meals of food that they have been able to donate.

“It was great to be able to show the local Assembly Member how the scheme works and to discuss how even more groups in the  community could benefit, and ensure even more good food does not go to waste.”

Community Food Connection is the largest supermarket food redistribution scheme in the UK – providing around 350,000 meals worth of surplus food to charities and community groups each week.

If you are a group that could benefit from the support of Community Food Connection then visit www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-go to find out more.