Food thrown away by supermarkets will be turned into meals for the poor, Michael Gove announces
The Environment Secretary will today launch a £1billion plan to use food set for the skip to provide 250 million meals for the needy
LEFTOVER food from supermarket giants will be turned into millions of meals for the poor, Michael Gove will reveal today.
The Environment Secretary will today launch a £1billion plan to use food set for the skip to provide 250 million meals for the needy.
Those who could get access to the extra food include kids in breakfast clubs, elderly people in old people's homes, disabled groups and the homeless.
Mr Gove said today ahead of the announcement: "Nobody wants to see good food go to waste. It harms our environment, it’s bad for business – and it’s morally indefensible.
"Every year, around 100,000 tonnes of readily available and perfectly edible food is never eaten. This has got to change."
Supermarkets will work together with charities and the Government to save the food from the bin in the £15million one-year scheme.
The plans will focus on fresh produce rather than cupboard dry food - and junk food won't be included.
The UK throws away around £13billion worth of worthy food every single year.
That works out at a cost of £440 per household.
Campaigners say efforts to tackle waste have stalled, with 7.3million tons of food thrown away in 2015, compared with seven million tons in 2012.
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A Whitehall source told the : "Michael is horrified by the amount of food going to waste.
"There are lots of groups out there who want to help and many of the supermarkets are willing to co-operate. But there is a distribution problem of getting the food from where it is to the people who need it. That is where we believe there is a role for Government."
Ministers will consult on what the scheme will look like later this year.
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