International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

29th September means only 1 thing in the UKHarvest calendar - International Day of Food Loss and Waste. It's a long title, but it stands true to everything that we do at UKHarvest.

As we near our 10,000,000 donation mark, and are just a few months away from the start of our 10th Anniversary year, we want to make sure that we are sharing as much information as possible to help everyone at home access food and make use of the food they have at home.

In the last two years, the team at UKHarvest have collected just over 11,000 tonnes of food that couldn't be sold by the producer or grower. That covers all the food groups from fresh to ambient, frozen to chilled, and everything inbetween.

It's vital that this food finds a home. That's where you and your communities have stepped in to make sure that no good food goes to waste, and ultimately everyone can access healthy food. We've rolled out a staggering 600 Community Food Hubs since April 2024, enabling so much of the food we've collected to reach the homes of those using UKHarvest's services.

That's not to mention the Grub Clubs, Community Grub Clubs, Nourish Hub and Nourish Hub Cafe - and we want to make sure we keep reducing the amount of food that would otherwise be binned.

There's a huge amount that we can all do at home too.

This year saw the introduction of Food Waste Bins in West Sussex. This is a real visual awakening of how much food is being thrown away. But with the right information, that amount can be reduced right down. An average family is throwing away around £1000 of food each year. That's £1000 that could go towards something a lot more exciting.

We've spent the last few months updating our Fight Against Food Waste booklet that gives everyone really helpful handson information about storing, prepping and eating amazing food, making the most of your food budget and preventing your food from going in the bin. Download your copy today!