TODAY a mum and her children will tuck into a tasty meal at the Brighton Unemployed Centre instead of skipping lunch.

A group of pensioners will enjoy a nutritious, warm meal while elsewhere, a father will collect some tins, rice and pasta at a food bank to see his family through a crisis.

This evening homeless people will be given some hot soup provided by volunteers.

Every day people benefit from food which would otherwise have gone in the bin. It’s thanks to charities such as Fareshare Sussex and the Food Waste Collective which last year intercepted more than 500 tonnes of food from shops, supermarkets and even festivals. The Sussex Gleaning Network last year harvested 21.5 tonnes of crops rejected by suppliers.

And the Real Junk Food Project Brighton which provides 1,500 delicious “pay as you feel” meals every month using food which would have been chucked away. But still people go hungry. Nine of the 14 food banks reported an increase in users. As council funding is cut and the benefit system is tightened more and more people are finding it tough to find money for food.

Currently, only two per cent of surplus food fit for human consumption gets saved. That’s why food waste organisations are asking for your vote to win nearly £50,000 from the Big Lottery’s People’s Projects fund to run the Surplus Food Network.

Please vote for us online: thepeoplesprojects.org.uk/projects/view/surplus-food-network.

  • Vic Borrill is director of the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership