PROJECT
The Real Junk Food Project
OVERVIEW
The UK throws away over 13 million tons of food every year. Much of the food is perfectly edible, but becomes waste due to questionable Best Before, Sell by, Display Until dates, damaged packaging, misshapen fruit & veg, end of lines or just simply over-ordering.
Research can include:
The Real Junk Food Project Wolverhampton is part of a global movement aiming to abolish surplus food through a variety of Pay As You Feel concepts.
We work with international and local partners to intercept food destined for landfill and redistribute it through a network of Pay As You Feel Sharehouses & markets, cafes and school partnerships.
How are we helping?
The Real Junk Food Project Café
We hold frequent pop-up events at Gatis and use some of this food to create delicious, nutritious meals
The Real Junk Food Project Surplus Food Market
Held every Tuesday and stocked with a range of products all destined for land-fill
Pay As You Feel.
All TRJFP events operate on a Pay As You Feel basis. We accept cash donations as much as donations of your time, skills or experience. We encourage customers to think about the value of the food (even though it has been deemed worthless) but also allow people to pay what they can afford. We believe that it is criminal that whilst many people struggle with food poverty tons of perfectly edible food is thrown away!
Food For All.
TRJFP events are open to everyone, regardless of income or social class. The project is as much about food waste as it is food poverty – there is more than enough to feed everyone.
The Real Junk Food Project Wolverhampton has worked with TRJFP Central and TRJFP Brum and has partnered with and catered for events by The Terrence Higgins Trust, Buskers Corner at The Newhampton Inn, The Eden Projects Eden Trust Charity and Wolverhampton’s Voluntary Sector Council.
Do you take/serve food past its expiration date?
We intercept food that is past its expiration date and we use our own judgement on whether we believe that food is fit for human consumption or not. By smelling it, tasting it and visually inspecting it.
We do not turn food away simply because it has expired. But we will never serve food that we believe is unfit for human consumption. Every single pay as you feel cafe that is part of the real junk food project network ideas to all environmental health regulations within their respective establishment. This includes transporting food safely. Storing it safely, cooking and reheating it safely.
Do you fee 'homeless people' or the 'needy'?
We don’t just feed homeless people the needy nor do we just feed asylum seekers refugees or whoever. We feed everyone.
In order for us to prove the value and safety of food waste, we couldn’t just feed specific demographics of people. We believe food waste is absolutely fit for human consumption and so that’s who we feed – human beings!
What do we mean by PAYF?
PAYF (Pay As You Feel) offers an alternative to the conventional payment system as there are no prices on any produce in the cafés or supermarkets. Our system transcends monetary transactions and liberates people to use their skills and attributes as well as money to pay for their meals.
Furthermore, we aim to highlight the absurdity that the produce we use has been stripped of it’s monetary value but still retains it’s nutritional value. by making people think about what they wish to contribute for their meals, that idea is to get Society thinking about how they value food as a resource