Tonnes of food from Shrewsbury supermarkets saved from going to waste over Christmas

Shrewsbury Food Hub's volunteers collected the surplus food from a number of the town's supermarkets that would otherwise have gone to waste.

Co- ordinator Pippa Lobban said: "We had more food than we normally get in a month in just eight days. We had loads of parsnips, sprouts and carrots, and everything from chocolate treats to salads.

"Our team of 70 volunteer drivers worked right through the festive season, but even with our full fleet of cars and camper vans we couldn’t cope with the volume and had to hire a van."

Throughout the year the team collects surplus food from supermarkets and distribute it among 56 community groups including 10 schools, Shrewsbury Ark, Severn Hospice and Age UK.

Donation

Over Christmas the food hub extended the invite to members of the public and opened a number of food share tables in churches around the town.

Hundreds of people took advantage and filled up a bag of food in exchange for a donation to Shrewsbury Food Hub.

Pippa added: "We’d like to say a huge thank you to the staff at the supermarkets for getting the food organised for us at such a busy time, our committed volunteers, our fantastic foods hare table hosts and the community of Shrewsbury for coming along and eating up.

"People have been so creative with Christmas leftovers, cooking up soup, stir fries, curries and even parsnip cake, so while we’re hoping the stores will stop over-ordering at Christmas, we want to celebrate the community partnership that stopped all this good food going to waste."

Following the success of the Christmas food share tables, the team will be operating the scheme again during February half-term.

For more information visit Shrewsbury Food Hub on Facebook or shrewsburyfoodhub.org.uk