A FOOD project is donating unwanted bread to a brewery to make bottles of beer.

The Real Junk Food Project Brighton has joined Bagelman in donated its leftover bread to the Franklins Brewery for its Optimist Beer Co project.

In return Optimist Beer Co will give a £5,000 donation to the food charity over the next year.

The Real Junk Food Project, which runs cafes where you pay what you can, said the cash will help during the winter months when there is a surge in demand.

The charity is expecting a particularly difficult time this winter with the introduction of Universal Credit.

Bagelman has been donating its unwanted bagels to Franklins for a number of months with The Real Junk Food Project joining the scheme in the last few weeks.

Anthony Prior, managing director of Optimist Beer, said: “We are passionate about creating a better future for the people of the city, and this partnership with The Real Junk Food Project does just that.

“As part of our continued goal to have a positive impact on the city, we will be launching a crowdfunding campaign in early 2018 to help increase our brewing capacity and introduce a canning line - the first such facility in Sussex.

“This will also enable us to help more breweries reduce their environmental impact by using cans instead of bottles.”

The Real Junk Food Project serves meals using surplus food from supermarkets, allowing those with little or no money to eat a decent meal.

The cafes are in St Luke’s Church in Queen’s Park, Hollingdean Community Centre, and One Church in Gloucester Place.

Adam Smith, founder of The Real Junk Food Project Brighton, said: “We feel very excited and proud about the partnership.

“It means we are able to save even more food from going to waste and also educate more people about our ethos.

“Bread is the most wasted product in the country due to vast amounts of overproduction.

“The collaboration allows us to work with more companies, helping to redirect their surplus into this initiative.

“The partnership also means an added financial security for us.

“The work that we do in Brighton and Hove involves huge running costs and the ‘pay as you feel’ donations that we receive unfortunately do not cover these costs.

“The partnership is a win-win for us because it feels like we are being rewarded for the huge amounts of work that we do in the city, addressing food waste and feeding the community.”