Yorkshire food redistribution social enterprise signs lease on new Leeds HQ

A Yorkshire food redistribution charity has moved to a new headquarters in Leeds.

The Real Junk Food Project has signed a 12-month lease on an industrial unit at the former Copperworks in Stourton, Leeds.

The unit will be used as a storehouse for intercepted food before its redistribution to the Kindness Sharehouse, a pay-what-you-feel supermarket in the Ridings Centre, Wakefield.

TRJFP is a social enterprise which started from a café in Armley in 2013 with the aim of tackling food waste. Since then, similar schemes have followed its model in seven countries, including South Korea, Japan, Germany, Israel, and France.

In 2019, TRJFP intercepted approximately 400 tonnes of food in the UK, equivalent to 950,000 meals. That increased in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the equivalent of 1.9 million meals intercepted in the first 12 weeks of lockdown alone.

Adam Smith, founder and CEO of TRJFP said, “Whilst Covid-19 has exacerbated the problem of food waste, it’s important to understand this issue does not just exist because of the pandemic. There are food consequences of every wider social, political, and economic occurrence we go through.”

Adam continues, “Tonnes of produce never reaches its intended destination and special action needs to be taken to prevent it ending up in landfill.

“Whilst we are immensely proud of the new warehouse, it’s a bittersweet achievement really, as our growing organisation sadly reflects a rising problem.”