Uber Eats help to deliver 1 million + meals to London food banks
Over one million meals have been delivered to London food banks thanks to a partnership between Uber Eats and London-based charity City Harvest.
Uber Eats has funded a special City Harvest delivery van supplying food banks and charities across the capital since 2020. The van passed the ‘millionth meal’ landmark earlier this month and has rescued over 420 tonnes of food – equivalent to 2,000 meals every day.
Uber Eats has committed to keep funding the City Harvest van until at least September 2023, and is now aiming to hit the two million meals landmark.
City Harvest delivers food for free to over 340 London charities, rescuing food from a broad range of donors that would otherwise go to landfill.
Matthew Price, Uber Eats general manager, said: “By tackling food waste we can support the environment and improve access to food for the most vulnerable. I’ve seen first-hand the incredible work that City Harvest does to fight hunger across the capital and I’m proud of the role we are playing together in providing life-changing support across London. I’d encourage restaurant partners across London to seek out their local food bank and explore what they can do to help.”
David Carter, CEO of City Harvest, said: “Our partnership with Uber Eats allows a City Harvest van to deliver nutritious food with an annual retail value of over £1M to 350+ community organisations across London. It’s deliveries improves the health and wellbeing of more than 2,000 people each day, preventing over 800 tonnes of Greenhouse Gases by diverting 210 tonnes of surplus food from landfill each year. Your ongoing support is invaluable, you help us reach so many more people in need. Thank you.”
As well as partnering with City Harvest, last year Uber Eats funded the launch of the Food Bank Connector, a new tool to help anyone in the UK – including restaurants – to quickly locate their nearest local food bank.
As well as showing the location of food banks, the online platform developed by LAB Group, provides live updates which shows users what items food banks are in the most urgent need of – helping to ensure that the right donations make it to where they are needed.
Those working in food banks can use the Food Bank Connector to request donations from the public, share items with other food banks, and send alerts when they have surplus stock.
