FoodCycle: Eating From The Bin Trend Hits Cambridge

4 million in the UK are affected by food poverty. FoodCycle, a pioneering project tackling the issue, has come to Cambridge. NICOLA BARTLETT investigates.

charity food foodcycle Nicola Bartlett recycle

Rising food prices and falling wages mean that in the UK it’s no longer just the homeless or the unemployed who need food handouts: it’s people with jobs too. Half of households below the poverty line are in work. There are 4 million in the UK affected by food poverty and it costs the NHS £6 billion a year. This makes it especially shocking that the UK throws away a third of the food it buys.

——————————

Homerton College estimates it wastes 15% of the food it produces.

——————————

Wasted food in the UK includes 484m unopened yoghurt pots each year, 1.6bn untouched apples (or 27 per person) and 2.6bn slices of bread. Whilst Freegans have resorted to sourcing their meals from discarded food, aka eating from the bin, there are less drastic ways in which individuals, and especially organisations, can reduce waste.

Freeganism is an option.

Catering Manager at Homerton College Michael Sanford estimated that the college wastes 15% of the food it produces. Although items like puddings in hall may be served the next day and some waste can be recycled, whole meals like lasagne have no other destination than the bin.

Pressure from students seems to be mainly in tackling issues of recycling packaging and not the food itself. Daniel Beresford, Environment Officer at Homerton College says he has concentrated on simplifying the college’s recycling system—the easier it is for people to recycle, the more likely they are to do so.

But it is the food industry itself which provides the most shocking stories. Research carried out by campaigner Tristram Stuart found food being thrown out before its use by date by high street cafés like EAT is common and Marks and Spencer notoriously covers its thrown out food in blue dye to avoid it being consumed.

FoodCycle aims to tackle this rampant food wastage. Inspired by Campus Kitchen Project in the United States, the UK branch was founded in 2008 with the first ‘hubs’ opening in Imperial College London and the LSE. So far nationally FoodCycle has turned 4,000kg of waste from the food industry into over 8,000 nutritious meals. It has won one of the Prime Minister’s new Big Society awards and received the 2010 Charity Times award.

The Cambridge FoodCycle hub at St Paul’s on Hills Road was opened by student volunteers a month ago. It has been set up with the help of community centre manager John, support from FoodCycle HQ in London and SCA and donations from Sainsbury’s and the Farmer’s Market.

When I visit on a Saturday lunchtime the centre is a hive of activity. The room was full with around 25 people enjoying pasta bake with cabbage and green salad followed by pecan and raisin bread and butter pudding.

FoodCycle aims to provide nutritious but also delicious food that people will want to eat, providing vegetarian and vegan meals where possible.

Bubbly Laura Solomons, a second year Theology student at Emma is one of the project managers. She explained how easy it was to get involved. So easy they managed to persuade me to get stuck in! Volunteers can help out for as little as one Saturday a month. The second time they come they need to undergo basic training to get a food safety certificate.

The busy FoodCycle kitchen.

Leaving the cooks to it, my job was to set up the room and chat to those who had come to eat – they seemed really grateful for the food and the atmosphere, all created by the volunteers. Visitors greeted others they’d met at previous FoodCycle lunches and those I spoke to thought the scheme was a great idea.

The other project manager Amy Anderson, a fourth year linguist at St Catz, seemed pleased by how the day had gone but was keen to emphasise that they could feed more people. Sometimes the waste they receive from Sainsbury’s is just too much for them to use, and they are looking for more mouths to feed. They ask for a donation of £2, but it is waived for children and those who can’t afford to pay.

You can meet the FoodCycle team at Amnesty International’s Freedom Festival at the Union this Saturday where they will be selling smoothies to raise money for the project.

——————————

For more information, or to get involved in FoodCycle click here.