Birmingham Wholesale Market is working with the Active Wellbeing Society to explore different methods to reduce edible waste whilst at the same time distributing surplus food to those who need it most across the city and therefore reducing the amount of produce that goes to waste.
No one plans to waste food and there are other routes to market for produce past it’s best. Businesses are conscious of minimising their waste but it’s inevitable due to unforeseen events such as changes in demand due to weather, gluts, staff off sick so less time for stock rotation etc.
The proposal for this project has come out of TAWS work with Birmingham City Council’s Public Health Food team on a surplus food project linked to the Birmingham Food System Strategy. Aligned with the Food Waste and Recycling workstream, the project looked at the opportunities for minimising food waste and maximising the repurposing and redistribution of surplus food.
In addition to the Food System Strategy, the Cost of Living response is a major area of work within Birmingham City Council. The amount of surplus food available is in decline but the need for food in the city is rising. However, the Surplus Food Hub will provide the opportunity to see what is possible to intercept, overcoming barriers and developing new partnerships to ensure better access to surplus food across the city which aligns with the Cost of Living response.
A gap was identified at the Wholesale Markets in terms of there not being a robust process for the recovery and redistribution of edible surplus food.
The project will coordinate a new Surplus Food Hub at the Birmingham Wholesale Market (BWM), engage with the wholesale traders and encourage them to donate their edible food waste. The food is currently being redistributed through some partners such as Change Kitchen and Incredible Surplus in The Food Justice Network (https://theaws.co.uk/food-provision-database/) – a coalition of 300+ community groups supporting residents in need. Any inedible food will be taken off site for composting and to provide animal feed.
An additional opportunity has presented itself as a result of this pilot: The size of the hub space means that it can also be used for businesses/ food producers outside of the Wholesales Markets to deliver surplus food.
This opportunity has arisen out of the surplus food work that TAWS has been leading on and the relationships that has been built with the markets. It is a good example of cross-sector, city-wide partnership working. It will support cross-sector collaboration and empower the stakeholders involved to address a complex challenge and improve environmental, economic and community outcomes whilst also addressing inequalities in the city.
The pilot is in it’s initial stages. The next step is to hire a hub coordinator who will be on site five days a week to build relationships and optimise the amount of edible surplus food that can be redistributed across the city to more partners in The Food Justice Network.
