Starbucks is following Pret A Manger’s footsteps…they will soon be donating 100% of all unused food to charity, Elite Daily reports.
On Tuesday, Starbucks released a press release to introduce its new program, developed with Feeding America and Food Donation Connection, called FoodShare. This program will donate 100% of leftover, ready-to-eat meals and perishable items to food banks throughout the nation in hopes of helping the astonishing 48.1 million Americans who live in food insecure households, according to Feeding America. The image below puts into perspective just how many Americans face the struggle of food insecurity.
Food scarcity isn’t the only food issue the U.S. is facing…waste plays a huge role in our nation’s food problem. About 70 billion pounds of food waste is produced across the U.S. every year, according to Feeding America.
John Kelly, senior vice president, Starbucks Global Responsibility, Community and Public Policy, states:
Like many of our social impact initiatives, the innovation and inspiration comes from our partners who are volunteering in and contributing to their communities. They saw the need for us to do more, and find a way to use our scale to bring more nourishing and ready-to-eat meals to those in need.
Starbucks hopes to help eliminate the awful statistics of both food insecurity and food waste. All 7,600 U.S. Starbucks locations will be participating in the FoodShare program, which should be fully implemented in the next five years. Starbucks projects that they will be able to donate no less than 5 million meals within the first year, which adds up to almost 50 million meals by 2021!
If you are interested in reading the whole press release yourself, you can check it out here.