Battling Food Insecurity with Plan Zheroes
Illustration: Nikolai Jonasson
The majority of people associate food poverty and hunger only with the underdeveloped countries of the third world. But did you know that 5 million people in the UK werefood insecurein 2019/2020?
Household food insecurity means that a family or a person is not able to get an adequate quality and quantity of food that is necessary for a healthy and active life.
In Europe, the highest rates of food insecurity were registered in Eastern Europe. Common reasons for experiencing this occurrence are primarily insufficient income or loss of income.
According to Global Food Security Index 2021, the United Kingdom is in the top 3 countries with the highest performance score, together with Ireland and Austria. Regardless of that, 8% of the population of the UK is still experiencing food insecurity.
Charities are playing a big role in helping people in need through managing surplus food and creating possibilities for food donations from organisations, businesses and individuals.
Today we want to bring awareness that hunger and food poverty exists in places you’d never thought of, share solutions and inspire you to take action. Caddyboo talked to Chris Wilkie, co-founder of Plan Zheroes, to take a look at what can be done and how to do it, as well as learn the story behind Plan Zheroes' creation.
The moving force of Plan Zheroes was Lotti Henley (and still is in spirit), a great inspiration and a co-founder of the charity. We want to share her story in the hope that it will touch your heart the same way it did ours and many others whose lives were changed by her actions.
Plan Zheroes:
How It Started
There are many charities in the UK and in the world united by a common goal - to combat food poverty and hunger locally or globally. Plan Zheroes is one of them.
Lotti, Chris and Maria Ana, co-founders of the charity, met through local community organisation London Citizens (now Citizens UK).
“We participated in a few environmental projects, and all of a sudden we saw articles appearing in the newspapers about supermarkets throwing away food”, remembers Chris. “At the same time, Lotti met a single mother in London with three children. She was so poor – it was the time of the financial crash in 2009 – that she couldn’t give each of her children a hot meal every day, they had to take it in turns. It was crazy to realise that this was happening while stores were just wasting products.”
Lotti herself experienced food deprivation in her early years. Lotti was a princess from a country that is now Slovenia, Europe. Her family was wealthy and privileged, but they lost everything during World War II. She became a refugee with her sister, got split up from her family and suffered real hunger in the refugee camps.
““She’d always carry a sandwich or fruit with her, even though she was living in the centre of London and was well-established. She would never go hungry again, but this habit stayed with her through the years.” ”
Note from the author:
Experiencing hunger has deep physical and psychological effects. Undernourishment leads to chronic illnesses and the weakening of the immune system. It may also lead to mental health issues, including depression, eating disorders and PTSD. If you are affected by food insecurity, please reach out for help to authorities or help centres in your area.
Plan Zheroes:
Concept behind the charity
The tree co-founders of the Plan Zheroes started the organisation first as volunteers, then in 2014 as a registered charity. None of them had any previous experience in charity work or in the food industry.
“People were telling us that we are doing the wrong project. That we should concentrate on getting food from private individuals because there is more food being thrown away from a home than a business. That is true but we decided not to take that path because of the potential food safety issues and we knew that businesses were throwing away so much food” –” – Says Chris.
The concept of Plan Zheroes is to connect any business with surplus food to a charity that needs it. They’ve built an online platform where businesses and charities can register, donate and collect food across the UK. The platform created by the company Keytree was a breakthrough for the charity - it simplified the process of donation and collection of surplus food using a notification system and a community map.
“About 80% of the work is happening online. Most of the time we don’t collect, store or deliver the food, we act as matchmakers between the donors and recipients. However, we do also occasionally organise collections from two markets in London. Our volunteers collect food from the traders and either charities come to collect the food or we deliver it.”
From Plan A to Plan Z
One of the largest retailers in the UK, Marks & Spencer, has a sustainability action plan called Plan A because there is no Plan B with a goal to become net-zero by 2040. Plan Zheroes founders decided to become a Plan Z.
“Because we operate from the ground up, not top down. People are always mispronouncing or misspelling our name.” – Laughs Chris. – “We still decided to stick with it regardless of that. We want to inspire people to become zero food waste heroes.”
This charity is all about inspiring people and businesses to do more, rather than criticizing or judging. More than 400 businesses and 500 charities joined their food donation platform already, and the numbers are growing.
“Sometimes, a charity registers in our platform, but it might turn out that there are no businesses donating food in their area. Then we find a suitable company, approach them and try to inspire them to start donating surplus food. And we never criticize a company, if they decide not to join our platform – they might have a very good reason not to donate food.”– Says Chris.
Another core value of the Plan Zheroes is to work together with others, not compete.
“We collaborate with a lot of other food redistribution charities in the UK. It’s all about getting the message out and inspiring more people to get involved”
Two steps to make a change
The problem can’t be solved with only one approach, it’s rather it takes a variety of measures to relieve food insecurity. But at the beginning, there are only two things you need to do to get started.
First, you need to learn about the situation of food insecurity in your area. It all starts with the education of oneself. Once you know the depth of the problem, you can see how you can contribute.
Second, start helping locally, so you can see the change with your own eyes. You can donate food to charities or food banks, aid financially or volunteer.
One of the Plan Zheroes volunteers, Giles Dean, says:
“Working with Plan Zheroes has shown me that as a society, we really care about each other, but it has also stripped bare how precarious a position many of us find ourselves in. It has been heart-warming to see how many people have stepped up and donated food this year and I am incredibly proud to work with such an amazing group of people”.
Giving your time to help is probably one of the most precious gifts you can share with your community.
“If you’d ask Lotti about her best aspiration for the future of Plan Zheroes, she’d say “That it isn’t needed to exist anymore”. But people are still going hungry in the UK, so we continue our work” – Chris Wilkie.
Learn more about Plan Zheroes and check how you can get involved here.
