FoodForward South Africa distributed approximately 20,500 tonnes of recovered food, equivalent to 82 million meals, in its most recent financial year, supported by CHEP logistics equipment and infrastructure.
To mark World Food Day, the partnership highlights how food recovery, combined with reliable logistics, can help address South Africa’s food insecurity while reducing waste. Millions of tonnes of edible food are lost or wasted in the country each year, even as hundreds of thousands of people depend on food support every day.
Through their long-standing partnership, FoodForward SA recovers and distributes surplus food through its national network, while CHEP, part of the Brambles Group, provides handling and logistics equipment that supports the safe storage and movement of food to beneficiary organisations serving food-insecure communities.
The 82 million meals were distributed through more than 2,200 beneficiary organisations, reaching 862,820 vulnerable people each day. Of the food distributed, 93% was classified as nutritious, helping families, children and communities access healthy meals that support wellbeing, development and stability.
South Africa is estimated to lose or waste more than 10 million tonnes of food each year, much of it still suitable for consumption. The challenge is therefore not only to produce enough food, but also to ensure that more of the food already available reaches people safely and efficiently.
“In a world of finite resources, allowing good food to go to waste while communities experience hunger is simply unsustainable. The challenge is not only how much food we produce, but how effectively we move it through the system. Every pallet, every journey and every partnership has the potential to help nutritious food reach people instead of landfill,” said Marietjie Brown, Sustainability and Government Affairs Lead, CHEP Africa, Middle East and Türkiye. “One of the greatest contradictions in our food system is that good food goes to waste while people go hungry. Closing that gap is not an opportunity, it’s a responsibility.”
According to FoodForward SA, all the food it distributes moves through CHEP-supported equipment and infrastructure, underlining the role logistics plays in enabling food recovery at scale. Andy Du Plessis, Managing Director of FoodForward SA, said partnerships such as these are critical to scaling impact. “Reliable logistics infrastructure and handling equipment are essential in ensuring that food recovered from across the food system reaches vulnerable communities safely and efficiently. The support from CHEP has enabled us to grow our operations, extend our reach and strengthen our ability to reduce both food insecurity and food waste across South Africa.”
The benefits extend beyond food security. In its most recent financial year, FoodForward SA’s recovery efforts helped avoid approximately 106,600 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, demonstrating the environmental value of keeping edible food in use and out of waste streams.
The partnership demonstrates that tackling hunger is not only a question of food availability, but also of having the systems, infrastructure and collaboration required to move nutritious food quickly and safely to the communities that need it. By strengthening these capabilities, CHEP and FoodForward SA aim to enable food recovery at greater scale and extend its social and environmental impact.
