Sainsbury’s has reached a “significant milestone” in its partnership with the charity platform Neighbourly, by donating its 10 millionth meal in 18 months.
Under the partnership, which started in September 2021, Neighbourly connects Sainsbury’s stores to local charities. The store then donates ambient and fresh groceries, as well as surplus food.
Sainsbury’s has donated food to more than 2,500 good causes since the partnership began, helping around four million people a week. The donations have also prevented 4,500 tonnes of food from going to waste, and helped the supermarket reduce carbon emissions in this area by more than 16,000 tonnes.
“Our partnership with Neighbourly has really helped us accelerate how many people we can help,” said Sainsbury’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability Ruth Cranston. “We know our partnership is more important than ever with food banks facing more demand than before.
“We’re incredibly proud of this partnership and have worked hard in engaging our stores and they have done a great job in driving this forward. We look forward to continuing our work with Neighbourly.”
However, both Cranston and Neighbourly CEO Steve Butterworth highlighted that the current cost of living crisis meant more families were relying on food banks and community charities for food and other services.
Neighbourly, which also works with M&S, Aldi and Lidl among others, redistributed more than 100 million meals last year in response to the cost of living crisis – more than any in its nine-year history, the charity said.
In November 2022, Sainsbury’s pledged £3m towards food charities, as part of its Nourish the Nation campaign.
The milestone announcement comes on the same day as more than 1,000 UK charities wrote to Rishi Sunak ahead of the 15 March Budget, urging him to increase the funding given to help surplus food reach people in need.
It follows calls by food redistribution charity FareShare, to ensure more surplus food reaches people living in food insecurity, rather than being sent to landfill or for anaerobic digestion.
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