Primary Research Interview The Real Junk Food Project What do you do? -We intercept food that would otherwise gone to waste needlessly and then pass it on to the public on a pay as you feel basis after weighing it in and keeping records Where does the food waste come from? -‐ A variety of sources so originally it came from skips so it’ll be taken out of bins out the back of retail outlets but we now have regular interceptions and arrangements with retailers and wholesalers and distributer. Every Saturday we’ll do the Leeds Kirgate market. Any day we can go to any nandos in the country. We’ve got dairy distrusters. Morriosns are trialling it. We also get food from food bank as they are restricted by legislation. We get private donations from the public and allotments. Food photographers. Describe your set up -‐ The umbrella organisation is the real junk food project which started 2 years ago by Adam Smith and the café we’re in at the moment (the Armley café) was the first one. What we do is intercept wasted food and pass it on to the public on a pay as you feel basis. There’s a business plan being made up using this as a working model so once we knew this was sustainable we made that business odel available free of charge to anyone. There’s over 100 throughout the world now. Why here in Leeds? -Adam smith was a chef over in Australia in Melbourne. He saw the extent of the wasted food going on over there and decided that her was going to put a stop to it and feed the world. He got in to a conversation with someone he really regards as a mentor who said that the best ways to do that was to start at your own doorstep. So Adam returned to England with his partner and they set up the first café here in Armely because it’s on his door step and it’s one of the few places they’d let him do it. How are you structured and funded in terms of staffing, bills transport etc. -It varies from café to café. For us we were recently able to purchase the premises that we’ve been trading from and that was done through fund raising and crown sourcing and some generous individual donations. But there are cafes that do pop ups and far as staff goes almost everyone is there voluntarily. Though we have recently employed 3 part time manages on a minimum wage. Some times with it being a pay as you feel initiative, people
often pay with there time and experiences. Such as a plumber so we don’t have to pay for one. What do you think the main issue is around food poverty and food waste. -‐ The main issue is that it is unnecessary. There’s no need for it whatsoever. We know that because of the amount of food that gets wasted there is no need for anybody to go hungry its as simple as that. The system is broken. Is there a link between food waste a poverty -‐ well everybody wastes food, regardless of their financial situation. Some waste it because they’re going to miss it. Others waste it through miss information so we rely a lot on expiry dates rather than our own senses and most people have been taught to believe and trust there’s labels rather than their own common sense. What have you discovered since setting this up? That the estimates of wasted food are vastly underestimated. That that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s shocking to even us. We’ve seen how difficult the pay as you feel concept is to get your head around because people are sued to being told the value of something an dhow much they have to pay. They feel guilty if they don’t give enough but don’t want to put too much in and feel ripped off. There are a lot of people out the want to make the world a better place Who uses you services? - Anybody. One of the reasons for a pay as you feel is to make it inclusive to everyone. We don’t make any judgements about anybody tat comes in our café. We get people that this is their only source of food, and we get people that are homeless and been sanctioned. We get refugees that can’t claim work. But we also get professionals who come to the café because they choose to as they agree with the ethical aspects to it. Do you share support with other services? -‐
We take food waste from people so we save them money and avoid waste. Were always making links with organisations whether that be places that can supply us with waste food whether that be similar projects. We provide training for volunteers.
Do you supply date stats to local councils so that you can monitor the level of support you re offering?
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Yes is one of the ways we try to get more deals. So as I say we’ve been collecting from Leeds kirgate market once a week for a long time now but what we want is a permanent fixture there where the traders can just take the food and put it on to one of our trollies rather than the skip. All of our cafes are expected to weigh the mount of food they’ve intercepted and so we can use that information to strengthen our argument.
Any stats? -‐
lasted states- 157 thousand tonnes 9000 meals 6000 people up to mid September.
What should be done to alleviate the issue in society? - consumers can put an end to wasted food buy coming to a real junk food project café. Simply by eating the food. Spread the word. - Supermarkets- some are already on board with us. D you think your service helps? -‐ yes short term and long term? -short term because we’re stopping food from going in to the bin and going in to someone’s belly -long term we intend to fix the system Does the existence of such places hinder the issue being bypassed at policy level - e.g. if you’re sorting it out then the council etc. don’t need to? -‐
funnily enough we’ve considered taking the day off because we’ve now becomes and part of retailers and wholesalers as waste management. They now know they can save money buy giving us their food. If we ere to stop we would be missed. We don’t intend to be a replacement for waste management and will not allow companies to rely on us. We expect them to change their ways.
Do you use up all the food waste? -‐
no there’s always going to be some wasted food. Purely by the nature of how we source our food. Were not saying everything we throw away is edible. We have quality control and some food will already be too wasted when it gets to us.