Devon food charity now saving 100 kilos a week of edible food from landfill
The charity says residents - as well as shops and restuarants - can also donate food which is likely to go to waste
Last updated 22nd Jan 2025
A Devon food project says it’s now stopping 100-kilos a week of edible food going to landfill - as it tries to help people eat healthier.
The ‘Love food’ community interest company was only set up in Autumn last year - and offers a community fridge where anyone can take donated food as well as cooking lessons.
Founder Maresa Bossano says a lot of the food is coming from the Fairshire South West charity - which gets collects from restaurants and supermarkets - but it's also being donated from local businesses and vegetable growing groups.
She said: "The main reason we are doing it is to stop food being wasted but we're also giving people free food - so people experiencing food insecurity it enables them to eat a healthier diet.
"Some of the food goes to waste for not very good reasons – the packaging is slightly damaged or it might be printed wrongly there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it
"Fruit and veg tends to go to waste if it’s the slightly wrong size because supermarkets have very strict aesthetic guidelines."
The project says it is helping families during the cost-of-living crisis by offering food, but also advice and practical lessons for cooking on a budget. Residents are allowed to drop in certain food items - if still packaged or still edible fruit and veg - to save it going to waste in their own fridges if they were going on holiday for example.
Maresa says lots of community group also support the not-for-profit project, adding: " It comes direct from Shillingford Organics, or other community gardens, St Thomas Community Garden - there's a project called Devon Dig and Donate and they grow vegetables and give them away."
Some reports suggest around 30 per cent of food around the world is lost or wasted annually - weighing an estimated 1.3 billion tons.
The UK is estimated to throw away 4,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of food waste - or 9.5 million tonnes a year, with half of that still edible.
It is believed households are responsible for 70% of the UK’s £19 billion valued annual food waste - which could feed 30 million people annually.
It is estimated the hospitality sector contributes 920,000 tonnes of food waste annually.