Plan Zheroes - the latest campaign from West London Citizens’ Greener Planet Action Team

Every year the UK food retail industry sends 1.6 million tonnes of food to landfill. That is bad enough in itself but think about this. At the same time as that food is being thrown away there are 4 million people in the UK who are so poor they can’t afford to buy enough food to feed themselves and their families. There are families in London who are so poor they have to take it in turns to have a hot meal each day. This is London in 2010, not Africa, not India, not the Third World.

Plan Zheroes, the latest action from the Greener Planet Action Team, is addressing this issue, by researching ways to divert food which would otherwise go to landfill and give it to people who really need it. We have been talking to some organisations such as FoodCycle and FareShare who are already doing great work diverting food from some branches of Sainsbury’s and Pret a Manger for example. So we know it can be done. But it’s not happening quickly enough. We want to help with that work, spread the word and get more people involved. We are currently conducting surveys with food retailers, caterers and potential recipients of discarded food to collect evidence of good and bad practice. By analysing the survey results we will be able to connect those who are discarding food with those who need it.

Come along to our next event at The Hub http://kingscross.the-hub.net/public/

at 7.00pm on June 21st where you can find out more about Plan Zheroes then see the film Food Inc, followed by a Q&A session with Patrick Holden of the Soil Association. It will be a fun and interesting evening and space is limited so to book a place contact:

Chris Wilkie

Email address: chris.wilkie@tiscali.co.uk

Tel: 07985 306 832