Brambles and The Global FoodBanking Network Team Up to Help Alleviate World Hunger and Reduce Food Waste

Brambles, a leading logistics solutions company operating in more than 60 countries primarily through the CHEP and IFCO brands, has signed a three-year agreement with the international non-profit organization The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN). Through this partnership Brambles will provide supply chain knowledge, in-kind contributions, volunteers and donations to help finance GFN operations, in an effort to reduce hunger, poverty, malnutrition and food waste globally.

The agreement comes as the United Nations FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) reports that the value of food lost or wasted annually around the globe – some one-third of the food produced or 1.3 billion tonnes – amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries.^[1] At the same time, nearly 800 million people suffer from hunger every day.

Lisa Moon, President and CEO of GFN, said: “We are honored to partner with Brambles to leverage its expertise, products, and leadership to help drive efficiency and scale in food banks around the world. We would like to thank Brambles for their commitment to the fight against world hunger while also advancing sustainability”.

Last year, food banks within GFN’s network distributed 421,840 metric tons  of food to 6.8 million needy people in partnership with 27,000 charitable organizations and social centers. The GFN network consists of a total of 792 food banks located in 32 countries.

Brambles CEO, Tom Gorman, said: “Brambles is highly committed to deliver sustainable value in the communities where we operate. Food banks are a great example of that.  Our new relationship with GFN builds on our multi-year engagement working with our customers to support food banks around the world.  In addition, Brambles efforts to expand both the capacity and capabilities of GFN Network to address hunger is an important part of our comprehensive approach to addressing  food security”.

“We are focused on reducing post-harvest food loss, improving the ability of small holder farmers to access modern packaging that protects the integrity of the product and enhances food safety.  Whether we are working with individual food banks, the GFN, The Consumer Goods Forum or Enactus[2] our employees are dedicated to improving access to food and economic opportunity and to improving the sustainability of our environment”.

Zero Hunger is goal number 2 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals[3](SDGs). Food loss and waste are recognized by Organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations FAO, and the Consumer Goods Forum, (CGF) as critical challenges in the fight to reduce hunger, protect the environment and grow economic opportunity.

^[1] http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/

[2] Last June, Brambles announced together with Enactus – a NGO dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action –an initiative called 1 Race 2 End Waste, a program which enlists student teams in 36 countries to develop projects to reduce food loss and waste.

[3] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300