Food charity saving Pendleside Hospice £15,000 per year

Recycling Lives, based in Preston, provides food for the award-winning Pendleside Hospice through its Food Redistribution Centre, which offers access to fresh, surplus food to charities and community groups across Lancashire and Cumbria, saving the groups thousands of pounds which can be reallocated to core services.

Pendleside - which must raise £3m of its annual £4m running costs - provides end-of-life care to people with life-limiting illnesses at their 10-bed in-patient unit, offering day services, hospice at home services, and complementary therapies, and is one of more than 140 groups supported by Recycling Lives' Food Redistribution Centre.

“Over 12-month period FareShare saves us a conservative £15,000," said Mark Scott, Catering and Domestic Services Manager at Pendleside. "This money is then reallocated to whichever service needs it most.”

In 2016/17 alone, Recycling Lives' initiative created £2.3m in social value and diverted 293 tonnes food waste from landfill, with William Fletcher, Group Managing Director at the company, explaining: “We’re proud to be able to support charities like Pendleside Hospice.

"We know that it’s about much more than just food, the goods provided save groups money which they can then channel into vital services and enhancing their offer for communities," he added.