Food waste charity celebrates one-year milestone

A food waste charity has celebrated one year of operations from its Surrey warehouse.

FareShare Sussex & Surrey (FSSS), which collects and distributes surplus food to charities and community groups, marked the first delivery from its Guildford facility in June 2024.

It comes amid Volunteers’ Week, an annual UK-wide campaign to recognise the contribution of volunteers to the country.

FSSS, which started operations 23 years ago, says each year it delivers 2.14 million meals, supporting around 17,000 people a week at risk of food poverty.

It expanded by opening its Guildford depot last year.

Carolyn Turner, one of FSSS’ 170 volunteers, told the BBC she wanted to join the charity to fight against food waste and poverty.

“I had seen quite a lot in the news about people not having a lot to eat and food just rotting and thought – how do you help that,” she added.

Ms Turner, who works as an assistant in the Guildford warehouse six hours a week, said her job involves “helping with whatever needs doing on a given day”.

This could involve allocating food into 10kg trays or sorting through “huge amounts of apples or carrots”, she added.

But Ms Turner added there was “lots of time for laughing and chatting” with her colleagues.

FSSS chief executive Dan Slatter previously said the charity was opening the Surrey facility to “meet growing demand” in the county.