The Felix Project has launched a new tool to make it easier for retailers to reduce the amount of edible food going to waste.
The platform, called Felix Connect, directly links those with one-off food donations at risk of being thrown away to volunteers feeding people in need.
The charity, which is London’s biggest food redistribution body, said the automated service was designed to solve the issue of often having to turn down “small, immediate, ad hoc or quirky food donations” because of the resources needed to collect, store and deliver the food.
Felix Connect is a streamlined service that reduces the time and investment needed to redistribute the food.
Instead of food having to come to one of the four Felix depots, the software links caterers, events companies, retailers and suppliers directly to community organisations across the capital.
Once a food donation is posted, groups will automatically be informed about the offer. They can then accept whichever offers are most suitable and collect it themselves.
It follows a successful pilot with 35 community groups. The service will now be opened to all the charities with which it works, with it hoping more than 800 will join.
Over the 12-month trial period, 95 food offers were submitted with more than 2,300kg of food rescued.
The offers ranged from oranges that had been used at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in the background of a production, to fresh vegetables harvested from the Kitchen Garden at Chiswick House & Gardens Trust.
“It’s really exciting to be expanding and offering this service to all our community groups, especially after such positive results from the pilot,” said Georgie Czernobay, Felix Connect manager.
“We are confident it will allow us to accept more food, develop better partnerships with new and potential food suppliers and ultimately feed more people.”
The move comes after it was announced last month that more than 40,000 families in London would benefit from the capital’s first ‘multibank’, in an initiative backed by Amazon and former prime minister Gordon Brown.
Co-ordinated by The Felix Project, it will see more than 400,000 surplus essential goods such as toiletries and bedding donated over the next year.
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