(L-R) Iñigo Canalejo, Sustainability Director, CHEP EMEA, Isabel Jonet, previous FEBA president, prior to Jacques Vandenschrik who took over in December 2016, Juan José Freijo, Brambles Global Head of Sustainability, Patrick Alix, FEBA’s Secretary General and Vincent Guilbert, Network Development Manager
Madrid, 30th January 2018: CHEP, the supply chain solutions company, and FEBA (European Federation of Food Banks) have worked together since 2016 to help alleviate hunger and reduce poverty, malnutrition and food waste across Europe. Through a three-year partnership, CHEP provides supply chain knowledge, in-kind contributions, volunteers and donations to help finance FEBA’s operations.
Food banks use CHEP pallets and consider them vital to their operations and the efficient distribution of their donations. In the past year, European food banks have received more than 94,000 CHEP pallets with food donations, and hundreds of CHEP employees have done their part by volunteering thousands of hours over the past two years.
In 2017, CHEP and FEBA implemented a series of collaboration projects across Europe:
- In Ireland, CHEP facilitated discussions between its customers and FEBA to increase food donations to Cross Care, Ireland’s food bank organization. As a result, nine manufacturers and a retailer began making donations to food banks.
- The project in Italy used CHEP´s supply chain expertise and transport management to help Banco Alimentare, the Italian food bank organization, optimize and reduce its transport costs. This initiative has already saved Banco Alimentare over €26,000 on transport; equivalent to over 370,000 meals.
- CHEP’s UK team designed a project to integrate the Brambles Health & Safety programme (Zero Harm) into FareShare, an organization in the UK that rescues good food for frontline charities. By performing audits and external assessments, CHEP helped FareShare operate a safe environment for its volunteers and employees.
“Collaborating with FEBA over these two years in the fight against hunger and food waste has been an honor for us,” said CHEP Sustainability Director in EMEA, Iñigo Canalejo. “Our business model focusses on eliminating waste in the supply chain, especially when it comes to food. Helping local food banks with our supply chain expertise not only serves FEBA members but also inspires our employees.”
“By supporting FEBA, CHEP is taking action to alleviate hunger by reducing food waste across Europe,” added Patrick Alix, Secretary-General, FEBA. “FEBA has been able to lift obstacles for food donations at the EU-level by participating in the drafting and adoption of EU food donation guidelines in partnership with FoodDrinkEurope and EuroCommerce as well as with HOTREC. These guidelines enable more and safe redistribution of surplus food to vulnerable groups in order for them to enjoy their right to nutritious food.”
“The way CHEP has mobilised its leadership teams to engage with food banks in various European countries through these projects is simply outstanding. We are very grateful to CHEP for its trust in our network and for the professionalism and enthusiasm of its employees as demonstrated through the quick launch and implementation of the projects.”
