Our April climate heroes
In this new series, meet everyday heroes making a real difference fighting food poverty and protecting the planet with inspiring, grassroots action
We save 700 tonnes of 'waste' food in Suffolk
Roz Scott runs Still Good Food, a waste charity in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, that engages in ‘gleaning’ – collecting leftover crops from a field after harvest to save food that would otherwise be thrown away.
I’ve spent 25 years running farmers’ markets and I lived on a farm in the Fens, so I’d seen how much food was wasted. Hundreds of tonnes of potatoes could be harvested in a day, and up to 40 per cent could be discarded because they were the wrong size for customers – I was horrified by that. Nationally, we waste 4.5 million tonnes of food each year, and globally 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste. Still Good Food was set up to do something about that. We started in 2017 with food from supermarkets through the FareShare charity which redistributes surplus to charities, but our focus is the environment. Anyone can shop at our two outlets – we have displays on how much food we saved last year, and our volunteers are trained to talk about food waste. At first we had quite a few customers who just wanted to support what we were doing. That changed with Covid, and we started to see more people who were in food poverty: through that change, we’ve had some great conversations with people who never really thought about food waste before. In 2021 I found out about projects gleaning waste produce from farms, so I used my contacts in the farming world and it’s really taken off. Now we run an independent gleaning group which supplies fruit and vegetables to local food banks and schools, as well as our own stores and the City Harvest charity in London. We’re educating and inspiring people to make changes in their own lives, connecting them with the food they see growing in the fields, and giving them a window into British farming.
How you can help the planet
- Think about how you shop: do a 'shelfie' (picture of the fridge or cupboard) before you leave so you know what you have, and never shop hungry or you'll end up with a load of biscuits!
- Support your local small farms: look for seasonal and local produce in farm shops and markets which may not have made the grade for the supermarket.
- Freeze your leftovers and eat them later.
- Join your local gleaning group.
We transformed derelict land into a forest garden
Linda and John Otley, from Seacroft, Leeds, worked with residents to turn an overgrown dumping ground into a thriving community growing space.
During regular walks around our estate in Seacroft, Leeds, we would go down a ginnel and comment on the state of a huge plot of abandoned land which had become an eyesore. It was covered in rubbish, mattresses and all sorts of waste – so we decided to do something about it. As members of Climate Action Seacroft, we had heard about a similar project in Leeds, Bedford Fields forest garden, where we got lots of advice. We were then granted permission to grow food on land which had been derelict for 20 years. Then the hard work started. The area was waist-high with weeds and we could hardly open the gate. It took a week with the strimmer to clear space for more volunteers to come onto the land. Four years later most of it is fully accessible – we’ve got around 20 fruit trees, 100 fruit bushes, perennial vegetables and a herb area. One popular crop is a staple of the Yorkshire diet: liquorice. When we had a group of children on the garden they were amazed they came from a plant. Anyone in the community is always welcome to help, even if it's just a bit of weeding or picking fruit or veg and taking some for themselves. But we're also proud that produce from the local garden is donated to the local food pantry- during a cost-of-living crisis it's good to be able to help people. It's such a pleasant, calming place to be. Seacroft gets a bad rap but there's a lot of good things going on here and that's what this garden makes us feel. When we walk through the gate, we think 'Yeah, we're doing something different'.
How you can help the planet
- Don't be scared to ask for help: each situation is unique, but there are plenty of people and community groups out there who have been through similar things and are happy to share their experiences and advice.
- Make it fun: experimenting with different produce is all part of the experience. Alongside the popular staples, try to plant things you and your community are interested in.
- The hunt for volunteers can be a real struggle but you've got to stick with it. We run family-friendly events such as apple juicing and Easter egg hunts to get people into the garden to see what it's like. People need to feel comfortable in the space if they are going to keep coming back.
- Find out more about Seacroft Forest Garden.
Tackling food waste one colourful dish at a time
Birgit Kehrer’s ChangeKitchen has become a Birmingham institution, making hundreds of free meals from surplus food.
For 15 years, we have been catering events with vegetarian and mostly vegan fare. More recently since the start of the pandemic, we have provided more than 92,000 free meals to Brummies in need. We use surplus food, mainly from FareShare, seeking to make dishes as interesting and colourful as possible. Before Christmas, we were sent a stack of frozen vegan ‘fish’ fingers, which we turned into a plant-based ‘fish’ pie. One of the principles with our free meals is to draw on food cultures from all over the world, so everyone recognises themselves some of the time. ChangeKitchen favourites include tarka dhal, lentil moussaka and homity pie. We have a kitchen in Balsall Heath renovated to be as energy-efficient as possible, plus an attached café. The café furniture is made from reclaimed wood, the panels are from a factory in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, and we have a heat pump for hot water. Our takeaway containers are compostable and social enterprise The Compost Connection is helping us with bokashi composting of any more complicated food waste. We recently raised more than £80,000 through a crowd funding campaign that was match-funded by Aviva and the Cost of Living Resilience Fund so that we could create a healthy ready-meal range for sale and free distribution. We have had lots of corporates come to us looking for a green caterer. We are seeking to register as a B Corp, and we want to establish a presence outside Birmingham in a more regular way, dispatching meals in an electric van. We aspire to have our own green production plant, too. I started and continue to run ChangeKitchen because I wanted to work for more than profit. Ensuring we contribute towards positive social and environmental impact combines the beliefs I have held dear since my teens: social and climate justice.
How you can help the planet
- Really learn the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates. Check out WRAP for more about this and for lots
of ideas. It means you can cut food waste drastically, which in turn will cut down on your carbon footprint (and save you money). - Get inspired by the many wonderful global veggie and vegan recipes available to reduce your meat and dairy consumption. It is the easiest way to shrink the carbon footprint of your food and therefore contribute positively towards net zero in your personal life.
- Go shopping with your own bags and buy fruit and veg loose, maybe at a farmers’ market – you’ll cut down on plastic use and prolong the life of the produce.
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