SEC and Compass Scotland partner with charity FareShare to address food waste and hunger

April 23: The Scottish Event Campus (SEC) food team is working in partnership with charity FareShare, as part of its continued commitment to sustainable and ethical initiatives across its business. SEC Food is part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, which has worked with the charity for some time, however, this new collaboration has helped cement the partnership across Compass Scotland.

Last year, the SEC announced its aspirations to be net zero by 2030, and this commitment forms just part of a wider series of initiatives to become a more sustainable business. FareShare follows on from subsequent announcements that saw the OVO Hydro achieve ‘Greener Arena’ status, and the launch of reusable ‘Stack-Cups’ across the campus. The venue was also the recipient of the Green Meetings Gold Award – the initiative’s highest attainment – and retained the Green Tourism Gold Award for the 13th year through Green Tourism’s new, more comprehensive, assessment process.

Now, as part of the partnership with FareShare, the team at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) has diverted surplus food to 56 charities and community groups between April 2022 and March 2023. This equates to 5,130 meals and helps prevent 3.45 tonnes of embedded CO2e from going to waste. Among the groups to benefit from the redistribution of supplies are three that support those experiencing homelessness, 30 that support those on no or low income and three community groups serving older people.

“Our sustainability ambitions reach beyond reducing our carbon footprint and making greener choices. We want to contribute to social progress by helping to support those in need. FareShare’s ethos aligns with this perfectly,” said Kathleen Warden, Director of Conference Sales at the SEC.

Seven employees from the SEC Food team recently spent time with the FareShare Glasgow team at their warehouse, supporting the volunteers as they sorted through surplus food, preparing it for donation. In total, they helped FareShare sort through six tonnes of food, which was the equivalent of 14,286 meals.

Managing Director of Compass Scotland, David Hay, said:

“Working with FareShare is something we’re all really motivated to get behind at Compass Scotland as the work they do is for such an admirable cause. It’s great to be taking an existing relationship that we have with the Group and driving it forward in Scotland, making sure that surplus Scottish food is going to Scottish people in need.”

FareShare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity and distributes surplus food through a network of 10,000 frontline organisations. It provides food to almost 9,500 projects across the UK, including community centres, foodbanks, and homeless shelters.