Our global food system is responsible for more than a third of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is the single biggest contributor to biodiversity loss, deforestation, drought, freshwater pollution and the collapse of aquatic wildlife.
Climate change is happening, affects everyone, but the poorest and most vulnerable are and will continue to be hit the hardest.
One third – many say more like 40% – of the food that is grown to be eaten is lost or wasted. This means emissions from food waste alone are 10% of the world’s emissions – more than the aviation industry.
In the UK, 6.4 Million tonnes of edible food goes to waste from businesses and households. Worth £19 Million, this would be associated with more than 25 Mt of GHG emissions, and would make the equivalent of over 15 billion meals – enough to feed the entire UK population 3 meals a day for 11 weeks (WRAP)
Other videos
- Who and what is REfUSE? 2016
- Crowdfund plea December 2016
- An evening with REfUSE: June Project 2017
- Founder Nikki on Climate Change, opening the cafe after lockdown, 2021
- Nikki at Bright Ideas Gathering 2021
- Recording of Rev Kate Bottley talking to Zoe Ball about us on Radio 2 after visiting REfUSE Cafe, 2021
- REfUSE: A Food Journey – award winning film produced by Nick Whitworth 2018
Media appearances
- 5 year anniversary celebrations: on BBC Tees and BBC Newcastle Radio, in the Northern Echo, on Durham Council‘s and Durham Green Party‘s websites.
- BBC Documentary ‘We are England’ : following Ronnie and Kamara’s stories
- Revd Kate Bottley on BBC Radio 2 ‘Pause For Thought’ talking about her visit to REfUSE Cafe
- Founder Mim Skinner telling our story in The Guardian
- Channel 5 “The Secret World of Your Rubbish” documentary
- BBC Look North on our 2020 Crowdfund campaign
- Delivering meals during lockdown: funded by CDCF
- REfUSE Wins in three categories including an Outstanding Award at Durham Environment Awards
- Why Christmas is a very busy time for the North East’s warriors against food waste: The Chronicle
- Social Impact study by Newcastle University : more than a cafe
- We were one of 8 UK organisations to receive funding from WRAP to increase our food redistribution
- Cafe announcement and empty-building launch in The Chronicle
- Where do all the pumpkins go? Feeding the 5000 in The Chronicle
- Stolen van found: The Chronicle (unfortunately this article doesn’t say that when we finally got it back from the police depot, we found it was irreparably damaged and had to be scrapped. You win some, you lose some.)
- Little excerpt about Nikki in The Times
- Fuel For Schools on BBC Look North
- Fuel For Schools in The Chronicle
- Festival of Thrift on BBC Breakfast (national)
- Crowdfund success in Northern Echo and Advertiser
- Launch June 2015 in Northern Echo – and Chronicle
- Food Waste Wedding May 2016 on BBC national News
- Bride-to-be Kim on her wedding, the first in the North East to be catered using only food that would otherwise be wasted:
- Nikki on national BBC radio:
- Metro Radio
- and The Sun?!? (We definitely did not give them our stuff… #dontbuythesun)
- Nikki on the Iceland bin-raiding episode, 2017:
Blogs about us
- Where Hope and Help are on the menu
- Tracing Green
- Canny Food
- Canny Food again
- Threads: Will the supermarket giants ever compromise?
- Student group Just Love
- Just another food blog: local blogger reviews our restaurant night!
Other organisations fighting food waste
- Feedback – an organisation behind some excellent and effective campaigns and projects, like Toast Ale, The Pig Idea and The Gleaning Network
- Hubbub
- This is Rubbish
- Magic Hat Cafe Newcastle
- The Real Junk Food Project Brighton
- Food Works Sheffield
- The Real Junk Food Project Birmingham
- Open Kitchen Manchester