Free Surplus Food Distribution in South Ealing

St Mary’s church in Ealing runs South Ealing Community (SEC) Food cupboard. It gives away free surplus food and reduces food waste. The SEC Food Cupboard offers good quality surplus food items to anyone who would like to come and collect them for their personal use.

The SEC Food Cupboard is a community project set up to reduce waste and distributes this free surplus food. Their volunteers receives and collects surplus food from the supermarkets via Felix Project and other sources. They make this food available to anyone and everyone from the local area. The SEC Food Cupboard is available to all. It’s aim is purely to reduce waste and everyone can help with that. The food is always Free!

The selection of food items each week will vary according to what is surplus food on that day. There may be restrictions on the quantities of an item each person can take to ensure a fair distribution.

By distributing this food it reduces waste and the associated carbon emissions with the food.

Open Every Monday From 1 pm – 3 pm
St. Mary’s 
St. Mary’s Road South Ealing W5 5RH
020 8579 7134
www.stmarysealing.org.uk

(Closed on Bank Holiday Mondays)

Entrance through the North East Door of St. Mary’s Church. Door closest to Ranelagh Road from the path round the back of St Mary’s Church. For full details go to SEC Food Cupboard

Another organisation distributing low cost food is Ealing Store Cupboard or free food from Ealing Food Bank and Ealing soup kitchen.

Food waste

The UK wastes almost 10 million tonnes of food every year. Almost 2 million tonnes come from the food industry, and currently less than 1% is recycled for human consumption says Felix Project. This waste is in start contrast to the 11 million people in the UK are struggling to get enough to eat. Fareshare point out this represents nearly 1 in 6 of the UK’s population.

Organisations such as SEC are essential to redistribute this wasted food, by giving away this free surplus food to those that need it.

Food waste Hierarchy

The government has also developed the food and drink waste hierarchy as guidance for the food industry. The hierarchy calls for food to feed people first, with it being a legal requirement for UK companies to operate according to these principles.

The waste hierarchy sets out five steps for dealing with waste, ranked according to their environmental impact. At each step the food waste has to meet hygiene regulations, such as donate food that’s safe and fit for human consumption and further requirements for animal feed.

The Food waste thats collected at the doorstep in Ealing goes to make compost and biofuel. See What happens to Ealing’s rubbish? for further details on what happens to the food waste and other waste collected on the doorstep.

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