Come to a Food Share near you!

The Food Share has resumed in collect and distribute form, and is now operating in village locations 7 nights a week! Jess at Eco Savvy tells us more below…

Eco Savvy has been running the Food Share in conjunction with the Coop since November 2018. The pandemic saw us move the scheme in-store to ensure the safety of the wonderful Food Share volunteers and the wider community. But last month the collect and distribute model of Food Share restarted.

Special thanks goes to the amazing staff at the Coops who have kept the scheme running and also to the incredible network of volunteers who collect the food and distribute it within their villages.

What is the Food Share?

The Food Share scheme is to prevent food being wasted. At the end of the day food from the Co-op that would be destined for the bin is brought to a different village each night of the week.

The Food Shares are organised locally by village and involve volunteers collecting the food from the Co-op at the end of the day, taking to the designated distribution point at your village and laying out the food for selection.

Who is it for?

Food Share is open to all and to date the Arran community has diverted over £250,000 or 40 tonnes of food from being binned! When food goes in the bin not only are we wasting the food itself but we are also wasting all the energy that went into growing/ rearing, manufacturing, transporting, storing and packaging the food.

What will I get?

The food you’ll get will vary depending on what’s available on the day. On offer will typically be bakery, fruit and veg and also some fresh meat and chilled products.

What about the Food Bank?

Eco Savvy has entered into this partnership with the Co-op in collaboration with Brodick Food Bank. This means that on every collection day, the foodbank has first refusal.

So far, the Food Bank has more food than they are able to distribute or preserve in the small time-frame before the use-by or best-before dates hit. Thanks to generous contributors across Arran, the food bank is often at full capacity which leaves a large amount of the short shelf life food from the Co-op headed for the bin!

If you are interested in becoming a Food Share volunteer please get in touch with our Sustainable Food Coordinator Jess on jess.ecosavvy@gmail.com. Volunteers are especially needed for the villages of Lamlash, Pirnmill and Lochranza though are welcome in all locations!

Please support your local Food Share and help us reduce food waste! Check out when the Food Share is in your village in the schedule below.