Leeds Cafe Celebrates Breakthrough

A Leeds cafe says it's spent months trying to get access to supermarkets bins.

Now West Yorkshire based Morrisons have agreed to give them all the food that would otherwise go in the bin.

The Real Junk Food Project is a network of cafes using food donations - often past its sell by date. There's no price list - you 'pay what you feel' is fair.

Adam Smith started the project in Leeds and says this is what they've been working towards..

"Honestly, it's the catalyst for huge change in the UK especially around food waste. Supermarkets have always had this stigma around them that they waste a lot of food - they're not given the knowledge of what they're wasting as well and for us to be given open door access to their produce is huge.

"After the expiration date (which is midnight that day) legally that food becomes a waste and so the fact that we feed it to people the very next day means that they're proving this food is safe to eat."

The project began in Armley - now there's 110 cafes worldwide. They use the food to make meals for people who might otherwise go hungry.

Adam says it's about time supermarkets faced up to the issue.

"It's the right thing to do and it's about time. It's part and parcel of what's happening in society at the moment. I think food waste has been on the agenda for a good ten years or so and I think people are starting to realise that it's actually beneficial to do something with food - rather than just hiding it from the public and destroying it.

"The amount of food that's wasted that we produce, all the energy ad resources that go into that and then for it to come to a supermarket and then be thrown away because of an expiration date is completely unnecessary but responsible. Where it goes then is having huge environmental impact on our planet. Allowing us this access to the food is going to be so positive to so many areas."