Tackling food waste through community food hubs across West Sussex
By reducing food waste and at the same time giving those in need across West Sussex access to the fresh food they need at little or no cost, UK Harvest is helping everyone to eat and live well while saving money.
This week is Food Waste Action Week, a national awareness campaign organised by WRAP, the global action NGO tackling climate change through waste reduction. ‘Make your food go Fuuuuuurther’ is one of UKHarvest’s key messages and WRAPs focus from March 9 to 15.
The south of England’s leading food waste charity, UKHarvest connects people to affordable food, community support and impactful engagement. Its main community outreach operations are the 15 community food hubs, including Midhurst, Selsey, Chichester, Bognor Regis, Southwick, Crawley, Storrington, Haywards Heath and Worthing.
In this Food Waste Action Week, there is a light being shone on the work taking place every day in our communities, thanks to the team at UKHarvest.
The words of one community food hub customer explain what it means to people: “You have given me so much help and support, it's amazing. I feel so much warmth and love from everyone. Thank you so much.”
Based in Chichester, UKHarvest has been collecting surplus edible food from growers and producers for nearly ten years. The charity rescues the food that would otherwise be wasted and uses it to makes sure that people are fed.
With Her Majesty Queen Camilla as patron, UKHarvest supports upward of 1,000 people per week with its community food hubs, preventing approximately 2.5 tonnes of food per week from being thrown away; reducing the negative impact of food waste on our environment.
Ten per cent of the planet’s greenhouse gas production comes from food waste and so much of the ‘waste’ is not actually waste – it is surplus food that cannot be sold for a wide range of reasons. This food is still excellent, high-quality food and UKHarvest makes sure that it remains in the food system.
In a recent visit to the UKHarvest and West Sussex Recycles Haywards Heath community food hub, the High Sheriff of West Sussex, Dr Tim Fooks, was struck by the impactful work that takes place. Dr Fooks spoke to and engaged with many members of the public, the UKHarvest team, the volunteers and the support agencies at the hub.
He told the charity: “There was a tremendous sense of community in the place with your warm and welcoming team of volunteers and everyone I spoke to was full of praise and thanks for what they all do.”
UKHarvest operates seven monthly community food hubs across West Sussex, funded by West Sussex Recycles, and eight fortnightly hubs in and around Chichester. The community food hubs all create a space for everyone to access affordable food but also to access UKHarvest’s free food education programme, NOURISHed, that offers a wide range of courses and information to help support people to reduce food waste at home.
All of the NOURISHed courses can be accessed by anyone, for free, whether they want to take part in a complete cooking and food prep course such as Cook with Us online, or dip in and out accessing some of our NOURISHed food education resources found on our website.
Community food hubs are warm welcoming spaces that are open to everyone, whether they are attending to collect surplus food to help the charity reduce food waste, or to help feed their households.
There is a suggested donation of £5 for each bag of food collected, one per household, which is worth in the region of £35 and includes fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy, baked goods, frozen food, meat, fish and eggs.
One community food hubs customer said: “Very grateful for food and advice every time I come. Very friendly and welcoming and helpful.”
But that’s not all. Each community food hub hosts a range of support services for the public to access. Ranging from NHS health checks to fire safety support, this year the charity has welcomed more than 70 different agencies, including MIND, CAB, Carer’s Support, DWP, Early Prevention Team, Christians Against Poverty, Wellbeing Team, LEAP and Supporting You.
More recently, UKHarvest has welcomed some of the team from South East Coast Ambulance Service, who have been delivering free CPR and defibrillator training, and it regularly has the West Sussex Recycles team on hand to discuss how they can work with the community to help reduce food waste.
The community food hubs have been organised and led by UKHarvest’s community engagement manager, Nigel Boshein, for the past three years. Many people have got to know Nigel, his colleague Neil, and the team of volunteers that make the community food hub operation possible.
Nigel will shortly be retiring and has loved his time getting to know the people of West Sussex. He has fantastic insight into the needs and stories of those using the food hubs regularly.
When asked about the community food hubs, Nigel said: “Each community food hub has its own unique character. Used by a wide range of people in the community, from families to the individuals, those in full-time employment seeking a bit of help with their weekly food shops to people hoping to support the planet through reducing food waste, no one is turned away, everyone is welcome and we are here to support everyone.
"It has been an absolute pleasure to watch these hubs evolve from pop-up pantries to the multi-agency support spaces they are today, and I’ve been thrilled to be part of the journey.
"This Food Waste Action Week, I hope that all our hub customers take even the smallest food waste reduction hint or tip away with them – I’m a strong advocate for batch cooking.”
Community food hubs are accessible to everyone, with each location offering parking facilities, accessibility and child friendly. UKHarvest wants to invite anyone interested in finding out more to visit their website www.ukharvest.org.uk and sign up to the newsletter. Follow the team on socials via @ukharvest and see how you can access their support and food.