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Compass Group UK & Ireland has announced FoodCycle as its key charity partner.
The partnership, which strengthens the company’s social impact strategy to support local communities, will see Compass provide a grant through the newly launched Compass Group Foundation, to train volunteers in cooking and nutrition skills. Compass Group chefs and colleagues will also be fundraising, running masterclasses and volunteering at FoodCycle locations across the country.
FoodCycle was set up to tackle food poverty, loneliness and food waste. It provides weekly community dining, using food donations from the local communities it works in. It runs community meals at 66 locations around the country and is looking to expand further this year. Last year the charity saved 208 tonnes of food from going to waste and their network of volunteers across the country turned that food in to 495,930 meals for those who needed a hot meal and a warm space.
The grant will help fund FoodCycle’s training and development of volunteers, ensuring FoodCycle has a strong volunteer base, trained to offer high quality of service to its guests. In the past two months, Compass chefs have been visiting some of the community centres, supporting the community meals as volunteers. The Business and Industry culinary team have also been finding out more about the meals being cooked and providing advice and guidance on meal options and will be running cooking sessions to teach volunteers new skills, hints and tips in the kitchen.
Ryan Holmes, B&I Culinary Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland said: “We are delighted to be working with FoodCycle. Their whole ethos around food waste, supporting local communities and using food to bring people together aligns perfectly with our business. It’s been so inspiring meeting the FoodCycle team and many of their volunteers in recent months, as well as volunteering at some of their sites. We are looking forward to sharing recipe ideas and providing further support to the teams. They are a vital lifeline to so many people in the communities they work – whether it’s people looking for companionship or suffering from food poverty.”
Mary McGrath, FoodCycle, CEO added:“With more people than ever having to make the difficult decision as to whether to heat their home or eat, FoodCycle has become a lifeline to many people. Sixty-four per cent of our guests worry that they don’t have enough money to buy the food they need but 90 per cent said they feel well fed after attending FoodCycle and 81 per cent said they feel less lonely. So, we are delighted to be working with the Compass Group, their support will help us expand even further and reach many more people and communities.”
FMJ in conjunction with Grundon Waste Management is pleased to launch the 2023 waste management and recycling survey which examines the ways in which FMs approach their waste management responsibilities.
In this, the sixth year for the annual appraisal, we know there is a greater opportunity than ever for FMs to reappraise their waste and recycling operations and help their organisations meet the growing pressure to achieve ESG goals.
We want to learn how FMs have adapted to the legislative, economic and societal changes of the past year and how they plan to meet the latest waste and recycling targets.
In this survey we’ve posed a series of questions which include insights into FMs’ waste management strategy and targets, how they’re moving towards zero waste targets, and the importance of not just meeting compliance targets but also ESG goals.
The results of the 2023 survey will be published in FMJ magazine and form the basis of a white paper co-written by FMJ and the experts at Grundon on how to approach waste and recycling strategies.
To take part click here.
