Inhabitat reported that around the world, more than 1.3 billion metric tons of food are spoiled or wasted every year, while 795 million people lack regular access to healthy food. Finding ways to get this food to hungry mouths has both environmental and public health benefits, thus these so-called food waste supermarkets are trending.
“The Real Junk Food Project” is the first such store opened in the United Kingdom after success with a number of pay-as-you-feel cafes all around the UK serving hot and freshly prepared meals made from food destined to be thrown out.
Since the store’s opening in August 29th, the staff of the store have attempted to operate the food waste supermarket 7 days a week to make food as available and accessible as possible to the local community.
The organisers have partnered with other NGOs and nonprofit groups working to rescue food from the waste stream, stocking the warehouse shelves with different kinds of fresh food that don’t meet the standards of regular grocery stores but are still perfectly suited for human consumption.
This is the first such store in the UK, but there are similar programs in Europe, like Denmark’s WeFood, which started selling expired food products earlier this year in an effort to reduce food waste and provide people with affordable food.
Click here to read the story in Inhabitat
Featured Image Credit: Inhabitat.com