The Eighth Plate is a food salvage, research, and awareness project established between A Greener Festival, Fareshare SW, and the Nationwide Caterers Association, and supported by WRAP and Esmee. The Initiative specifically targets edible food waste at Festival events. The collaboration was born following growing evidence that a significant amount of edible food is being wasted at festivals in the
UK. This is not an issue unique to festivals, but rather a reflection of the broader societal situation where UK dependance on food charities is rising, and globally 1/8 people are malnourished, whilst 1/2 of our edible food goes to waste. There is plenty to go around, but our systems for production and distribution are grossly inefficient and imbalanced. Fareshare SW have already been working nationally to help correct this imbalance, from major supermarkets through to music festivals. They have found that each festival has provided 1-2 tonnes of food for local food banks. This figure can be greatly increased with greater resources and planning. The aims of the Eighth Plate are:
to ensure all of the edible food possible is being diverted from waste and redistributed,
to uncover the scale of the issue and reasons why the food is being wasted at festival events,
to inform organisers, caterers and audiences about what can be done to prevent food waste from occurring. support local disadvantaged people in need of food through redistributions
to create a tool kit and film that allows the initiative to be easily replicated by other organisations. Want to help us out please volunteer here http://www.ncass.org.uk/mobile-catering-home/articles/volunteers-needed-for-8th-plate-project
