While millions still suffer from malnutrition or go hungry, a whopping one third of all edible food – enough to feed three billion people – is wasted each year. Cutting waste out of the global food system is the most achievable way to immediately reduce the environmental impact of food production and an obvious first step toward shifting to a sustainable alternative – and this is what we’ve been working on since Feedback was founded eight years ago.
We have propelled the food waste scandal out of the shadows and into the spotlight. We have worked with governments, NGOs, suppliers, retailers, media and the public to catalyse action on eliminating food waste globally. We are distinct amongst our fellow environmental non-profit peers in engaging in the full suite of activities required for positive social change: movement building, campaigns, and incubation of new models.
While a third of the world’s food is wasted, this is a problem with delicious solutions.
Feedback is dedicated to leading the fight against global food waste. Our campaigns shine light on the innovative ways we can all do our part in tackling food waste and put pressure on companies and governments to change behaviours. Our campaigns include: Feeding the 5000, Gleaning Network UK and The Pig Idea.
Feeding the 5000: celebrating the power of food to bring people together and of people to make a big difference in the fight against food waste, Feeding the 5000 is our flagship campaign, with events taking place in 40 countries since 2009. Feeding the 5000 events are fun, collaborative and inspiring, bringing together local partners to launch food waste movements around the world.
The Pig Idea: Pigs and humans have coexisted happily for centuries, with pigs feeding on the scraps from our plates, generating more delicious pork to sustain people. The Pig Idea draws attention to a key area where sensible policy and practice could have serious knock-on effects for our planet: if pigs were fed our food waste, carefully treated to make it safe for them to eat, they wouldn’t need to eat feed made from soy beans, grown at a huge cost to the South American rainforest and it’s biodiversity.
The Gleaning Network: The Gleaning Network takes volunteers out into fields across the UK to gather up fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste, and pass them onto food redistribution charities such as FareShare and FoodCycle. In doing so, the Gleaning Network builds a network of campaigners who’ve witnessed firsthand the scandal of food waste.
Research and investigations: Feedback was founded off the back of the research Tristram published in his book ‘Waste’ in 2009. Now we continue that tradition with hard-hitting investigations exposing the scandal of food waste, prioritising issues that often get short-shrift such as the impact on supply chain farmers in less developed countries of supermarket’s capricious practices. We plan to continue and expand our independent research capacity, as we continue to work at the cutting-edge of food system campaigning.
