Mayor of London launches ‘social supermarket’ fund

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has launched a new £300,000 fund for London boroughs wishing to create ‘social supermarkets’ to reduce food waste and support those in food poverty.

The fund forms part of the Mayor’s £9-million High Street Fund, which itself makes up part of the £129-million investment Johnson is placing in high street regeneration.

Open to all London boroughs, the £300,000 in funding aims to help councils set up pilot supermarkets offering in-date surplus food stock from retailers (as well as foodstuffs that have passed their sell-by dates) in the hopes of reducing the capital’s food waste arisings, and supporting those on lower incomes and struggling with food poverty.

The money will be awarded to two boroughs, which will receive £150,000 each.

.@MayorofLondon announces funding for social supermarkets at visit to London' s first @CommunityShops in Lambeth pic.twitter.com/PQ8ctPDHGg

— Mayor's Press Office (@LDN_pressoffice) May 14, 2015

Johnson made the announcement of the new initiative whilst visiting London’s ‘first social supermarket’, Community Shop, in West Norwood, Lambeth yesterday (14 May). The shop sells fresh and packaged food at approximately one-third of the retail cost, and also includes a café and ‘Community Hub’, which provides mentoring, budgeting and debt advice, job training and cookery classes.

He said: “I want to see more innovative schemes on our high streets that tackle food waste, help communities and offer access to a variety of good standard cheaper food. 

“Community Shop’s range of training and skills services make it a hugely positive resource. My funding will help boroughs kickstart similar ‘social supermarket’ ventures that can really help local people on tight budgets.”

Mark Game, Managing Director of Community Shop, welcomed the new funding, saying: “Opening a successful social supermarket requires retail space, food partners, local authority backing and infrastructure funding. We urge those who want to support us widen our network across London, in particular local authorities, to come forward. The funding announced today by the mayor – who has always been such a huge supporter of ours – will be a real help as we develop across the capital.”

FoodSave initiative saves 1,200 tonnes from landfill

Johnson also announced that his existing food waste reduction scheme, FoodSave – which first launched in 2013 to join up businesses with surplus food and social enterprises that feed the vulnerable – has so far diverted almost 1,200 tonnes of food waste from landfill. It has also reportedly helped around 200 small- and medium-sized businesses save £582,000 in waste disposal costs.

He said he was “immensely proud” of the achievements made through the FoodSave scheme, adding: “It’s important we continue to reduce London’s landfill and ensure quality edible food is not discarded.”

FoodSave is run by the Sustainable Restaurant Association and sustainable food and farming charity Sustain, but is funded by the mayor in partnership with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB).

The campaign provides various forms of business support, including:

• identifying where food is most wasted;
• providing advice on how to reduce food waste;
• helping businesses send food to people in need through organisations that redistribute food;
• helping businesses to direct food waste to feed animals such as pigs; and
• for unavoidable food waste, supporting composting and renewable energy generation.

Find out more about the Mayor’s FoodSave initiative and the High Street Fund.