A FORMER Albion security guard has launched a fight against food waste in Brighton and Hove.

Adam Buckingham, 29, is director of The Real Junk Food Project Brighton, which intercepts food being sent to landfill and turns it into healthy meals for the community.

Mr Buckingham said: “Everywhere across the globe there is a horrendous amount of food waste and food poverty. My dream is to take the project worldwide.

“For the last six months I’ve been working as a security guard for Brighton and Hove Albion and doing this in my free time so it’s been quite intense.”

The group is run by volunteers and hopes to set up two Brighton cafe’s running seven days a week next year.

One will be a processing kitchen where inedible food can be turned into jams or chutneys, the other will act as a non-referral food bank open to everyone.

Mr Buckingham said: “I think the food banks are under so much stress at the moment because of the problems with welfare and a lot of people are on benefits and are struggling.

“We are helping to relieve that pressure by making food available to people that would otherwise be going to landfill”.

So far the project is in talks with Lidl, the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership and Waitrose.

The volunteers hope to take surplus food from as many supermarkets as possible to help feed vulnerable people.

Co-director Amy Macfadyen, 21, used to run her own catering company before deciding to help manage The Real Junk Food Project Brighton as a volunteer.

She said: “Food waste is a huge problem in the catering business.

“I felt like the work I was doing wasn’t tackling a bigger social issue, which this project does”.

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