“I GENUINELY believe projects like ours shouldn’t need to exist, but there is a need for them and watching the local community come together and support us with our project, helping it grow and come to life has been inspiring.”

Along with Clare Box, Crissy Weller set up the Twickenham branch of The Real Junk Food Project (TRJFP) in June 2018.

The local community company, run by volunteers, collects supermarket food destined for the bin and makes it available through its pop-up cafe at a local community centre, the ETNA, on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Supermarkets in the area donate their excess perishable food such as vegetables, meats and breads, through FareShare, Britain’s largest charity fighting food waste, which is then passed on.

The project, which aims to “feed bellies not bins,” started small with only coffee, drinks and pastries making up the menu, but then greater demand saw soups and later hot dinners for vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters added.

“It’s like Ready, Steady, Cook on steroids!” volunteer and Monday manager Penny Vegting told the Star, with a laugh. 

“We genuinely do not know on a Monday morning what we’re going to get, how much we’re going to get, and what we’re going to cook.”

It’s obviously going well though. The cafe started opening on Tuesday in spring this year. On average 100 people come through the doors each week. 

“It regularly hits over 50 each day,” said fellow volunteer Sian Morgan with pride.

“The stores that we collect from, such as Tesco and Waitrose, are very interested and engaged with the project,” explained Penny.

Sian, who has been involved since this branch’s inception, even said: “We have had to expand the number of supermarkets we collect from to keep the level of food up, because they are getting better and better at managing their food waste.

“The focus on their waste that we bring has made them think more about what they’re doing,” she felt.

Both supermarkets were among 100 food businesses and organisations to sign up earlier this year to a government pledge to halve food waste by 2030 in the UK, where an estimated 10.2 million tonnes of food and drink is binned annually.

Local restaurants, individuals and allotment owners now also make regular contributions. 

TRJFP Twickenham has saved over 7,000 KG of food waste in the local area so far and fed delicious, nutritious meals to nearly 2,300 people, according to Penny.

In recognition it was awarded the 2019 London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Community Project of the Year title in September.

“It’s quite commendable what’s been achieved,” says Penny. 

Since the opening of its first pop-up cafe, Armley Junk-tion in Leeds in December 2013, TRJFP has inspired over 120 such projects in seven countries.

Kindness in Schools, where each week 40kg of surplus food is delivered to 18 partner schools across Leeds and Wakefield, is an example of how the initiative is branching out to provide further much-needed services.

In Twickenham, other perishables such as flowers are now also being donated as horizons continue to expand. 

In addition to the environmental angle, the project was established to provide real social benefits too.

“It’s beyond all expectations, the way it’s reached out and grown,” said Sian.

Why does she feel it’s been such a hit?

“It’s a judgement-free zone. The wonderful thing about here is that everyone comes on an equal footing. You don’t know their back stories — it’s not just for homeless people, not just for lonely people … it’s for everybody, for the whole community in its massive diversity. 

“The elderly are sitting next to mums with kids. In a commercial setting they’d be running shy of each other.

“Some of our elderly visitors have made friends and found other interests through the very supportive community centre to develop their social network, like joining art classes,” she added.

Parents visit with their young children to teach them about the values of the project, while helping to relieve the constant pressures of home cooking for a young family as well. 

“[One mother] was telling me today it’s just too much for her to do home-cooked food herself so she comes here and gets freshly cooked food…that’s so wonderful,” explained Sian.

Local office workers keen to avoid food waste and socialise in a relaxed setting add to the mosaic of attendees.

There is no obligation to sit and eat a cooked meal in the cafe. Penny mentioned how a representative from a local dementia group visits each week to collect pastries for their coffee mornings, for example.

Donations are also not required, with visitors asked to “pay as they feel.”

“We make no judgements about people in terms of their ability to pay,” emphasised Penny.

“We have some people who are very generous with their donations, and we have some people who we know, if it wasn’t for coming here, they might not be having a hot meal. We welcome everyone and anyone.”

Indeed, co-founder Crissy was at pains to underline the importance of creating a “warm and welcoming hub” for the local community, and volunteers, currently numbering between 20 and 25 in Twickenham, are very much central to that.

“Without [them] we wouldn’t be able to expand and I’m excited to see how the project continues to grow.”

Initiatives such as these offer hope for real change and show a greener, more inclusive society is possible.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

To find out if The Real Junk Food Project is active in your area head to trjfp.com.