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Tackling food waste and supporting a local community
A new community grocers located in our ever expanding Riverside Centre in Sleaford has opened. The cause accepts surplus food from sources such as retailers or manufacturers, and makes it readily available for the community, tackling food waste and supporting locals to provide for their families.
The grocers receive and redistribute items including food surplus, end of line items and discontinued products. These could be due to manufacturers packing mistakes, supermarket ordering errors, and food close to, or just past, its best before date. Support comes in from local retailers, also being supported by FareShare.
Quality checks are made on all products, any food waste or poor quality items are put into a designated container and sent off to be turned into biomass, ultimately reducing food waste.
Anyone can sign up to this scheme, with a £5 annual membership fee, enabling them to be able to purchase up to £25 worth of goods for just £6 twice weekly. In addition to food items, they have a variety of children’s toys like Lego, and a wide range of toiletries at hugely competitive prices. All profits go straight back into the activity; into receiving stock, covering the cost of fuel for collecting the items and general upkeep of this great community asset.
The original target for this project was 1,200 members by year three. However, this number was reached by week four and still growing, exceeding expectations. Plans are in motion for the neighbouring units to be transformed into a new home for Sleaford Youth Club and a community coffee shop, with local people also able to take advantage of recipe cards and demonstrations illustrating cookery skills.
The efforts are facilitated by the New Life Church Sleaford who we have previously worked with in many ways. We rent the building to the group at minimal costs and donated racking to help them get set up. Our community co-ordinators offer their constant support and strive to hold a strong relationship with our tenants.
For information on how to support this cause please visit:
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