To give a bit more detail, TiR is creating an interactive theatrical feast in which games, riddles and performers take the audience on a treasure trail through the food production system. The feast will be cooked from surplus (‘waste’) food sourced from local supermarkets and food producers, building on relationships already developed by previous TiR events.

We are not only interested in fun, but fundamental food systems change. We think education and the engagement of young people, is vital to enable this. Specifically, the This is Rubbish School Feasts project has been conceived to address two issues;

1) In the UK we are disconnected from food production systems and supply chains, and as a result know little about them. A survey in 2013 by The British Nutrition Foundation highlighted 21% of primary school children and 18% of secondary school children had never visited a farm; and that 18% of primary school children believed fish fingers came from chicken. This demonstrates a clear need for education on food systems

2) Globally 30%-­50% of the food produced today is lost, wasted or discarded somewhere along our food production systems and supply chains before it has chance to reach the dinner table. (IMECHA, 2013). These problems are inter-­related, and a lack of understanding about food production and systems leads to decreased appreciation of its value, beyond ‘cash’ value in the shopping basket. TiR believes there is a clear need for cross­-cutting, values ­led education on food.

The project is starting now, and we are looking for partner schools and events to collaborate with us, and host our pilot Feasts. We are also looking for volunteers, performers and general merry makers. If you are interested, get in touch with Poppy@thisisrubbish.org.uk.

Our most esteemed assistants

Join This is Rubbish on 5 July as they take on the scandal of surplus food in a tropical café experience in the heart of Waterloo.  Part of this year’s Waterloo Quarter Food Festival the EXOTIC EXCESS CAFÉ promises visitors a totally unique food experience whilst demonstrating the tragedy of global food waste and excess.  Globally we waste between 30-40 per cent of all food grown and produced – and This is Rubbish works towards changing that.

Located on the Lower Marsh Plaza in SE1, open between 11am-4pm, and free to attend, the EXOTIC EXCESS CAFÉ will include a ‘help yourself’ fruit bowl, ‘place mat pledges’ and a ‘menu of activism’.  The place mat pledges – with either community or personal pledges against food waste – will be hung in the café on the This is Rubbish washing line for all to see.  Walkabout performers will be mingling with shoppers along Lower Marsh – serving tropical fruit jelly and chatting about food waste. From 2pm This is Rubbish will perform a ‘communal fruit salad toss for the masses’.  Members of the public are invited to take part and trade in a ‘place mat pledge’ for some free fruit salad and marvel at the glittering Exotic Excess tropical fruit installations aimed at highlighting the tragedy of food waste and excess.

Caitlin Shepherd, This is Rubbish Co Director, said: “This is Rubbish are delighted to be joining the Waterloo Food Festival this year, and on Saturday the 5th of July, will be there in style with an Exotic Excess Cafe.Tropically adorned, a troupe of This is Rubbish volunteers will be serving fruit surplus salad jelly, and demonstrating that the majority of UK industry food waste is too good to chuck out! Come down to sample the delights of surplus, learn about food waste and take part in a large scale fruit salad toss.”

Helen Santer, CEO of Waterloo Quarter, the organisers of the Food Festival, said: “This is Rubbish tells thestory of waste and excess via fun food waste events and experiences.  Food waste is a really important global issue – so we are really excited to be bringing this event to this year’s Food Festival.  I’m anticipating a really unique event and hope Waterloo comes up trumps with lots of pledges against unnecessary food waste.”

This is Rubbish sources its food mainly from supermarkets and large-scale fruit markets in London. As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility schemes, most supermarkets are beginning to choose to give this surplus away rather than simply send it to landfill, which has been common practice thus far. Most surplus supermarket food is still perfectly fine for human consumption but because the rules and regulations behind how food should look (perfect and blemish-free) much of it ends up in landfill for no good reason.

Generally, a whole box of goods can be discarded simply because a barcode is faulty, or one of the containers within a whole shipment is damaged.

To find out more about the EXOTIC EXCESS CAFÉ visit www.wearewaterloo.co.uk

The Waterloo Food Festival runs throughout July with a mouth-watering programme of events and offers showcasing the vibrant mix of food and drink venues to be discovered in the SE1 area.  Waterloo’s many restaurants, pubs, cafés, bars and specialist food shops will be hosting exclusive events, tastings and demonstrations including an Evening Food Fair opposite the Old Vic theatre on 3 July, a Spanish & Latin- American Street Party on 17 July, the Chateau Marmot demo & tasting on 19 July, the Waterloo Beer & Burgers Festival on 24 July and a Waterloo Charity Bake-off on 31 July.

More information about the Festival can be found at www.wearewaterloo.co.uk. To take full advantage of all the special offers, foodie competitions and events pick up a FREE Gastro Passport at participating retailers or by emailing info@waterlooquarter.org

-ENDS-

For further information and images please contact Sarah Harrison, for Waterloo Quarter Food Festival, on

07768 372892 or email sarah@sarahharrisonpr.com

Notes to Editors 

The Waterloo Food Festival 

Now in its sixth year, the Waterloo Quarter Food Festival is a month-long celebration of food and drink organised by the Waterloo Quarter Business Improvement District, Waterloo’s business-led organisation committed to improving the area of Waterloo.  Unlike many other food festivals it doesn’t take place in a tent or marquee but in the street and within individual bars, restaurants, pubs and shops.  Visit

www.waterlooquarter.org to find out more.

Today’s news told the story of three citizens being taken to court for the act of skipping. That is taking food from commercial bins, that is good to eat but would have otherwise been thrown away.

On the 25^th October 2013, a member of the public called the police to report three men climbing over a wall at the back of an Iceland store in London. The three men were subsequently arrested, and faced prosecution for theft. Police arrested the men who were charged under the obscure 1824 ‘vagrancy act’, for stealing. However, later in the day it was reported that the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop the charge. Nonetheless, this case raises very important questions about where responsibility for reducing food waste, and for reducing the increasing levels of food poverty in the UK.

More

On Saturday 28th September This is Rubbish, an anti food waste campaign focusing on the enormous issue of industry level food waste will be running workshops at an FRP Give or Take Event in Walthamstow.

More

This is Rubbish are off to the second event of the summer, to share stories of creative campaigning to bring a policy led end to current levels of food waste occurring in the industry. We will be drawing on our 2011 Feast tour and the recent IFWAP report, that we launched in Parliament back in May. We will also be staying true to our participatory roots, and hosting a mass This is Rubbish salad toss.

More

It’s that time again, where end of project reports must be written and further funding applications worked up and submitted. While evaluating impact, we thought it might be worth sharing some of the media coverage that we got off the back of our Parliamentary Counting What Matters Launch.

Tesco pledges action on food waste 

 https://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/may/23/tesco-pledges-action-food-waste

 The industry must act on auditing food waste

 https://www.sharnoffsglobalviews.com/food-waste-065/

Food industry should audit supply chains, say waste campaigners

 https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/15/food-industry-waste-campaigners

 Calls for industry to audit food waste

 https://www.resource.uk.com/article/Futurevision/Calls_industry_audit_food_waste-3082

 Changing More than Lightbulbs

https://www.energyroyd.org.uk/archives/8364#more-8364

Food-waste agency faces further cuts to its funding

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/foodwaste-agency-faces-further-cuts-to-its-funding-8612400.html

The trial against Belgium activists, now under heavy criminal charges for targeting a GM potato field in Belgium two years ago, has restated this week.

On 9 May 2011, 400 activists attempted to replace a GM test filed with organic potatoes, in an act of civil disobedience to rubbish the destructive GM trial and highlight the long term damage this could mean for sustainable agriculture.

11 people, of the 400, were arrested (some with and some without probation) and are now under criminal charges without any of their witnesses having been heard. This conviction poses a dangerous precedent for all forms of civil society action.

Bart Staes, Member of European Parliament for the Greens and one of the 91 voluntary defendants in the trial, told the court: “For 25 years I have been fighting for a fair food production system. We all have the right to healthy food and freedom of choice. This GM potato trial is part of industry’s efforts to push for a very specific agricultural model. “

The day before the trial, This is Rubbish showed their solidarity with activists in Berlin, who strung banners in front of the Belgian Embassy, distributing informative flyers and attempting to be hear by the embassy staff, who were alas a bit shy. “Social movements are not criminal gangs,” read one of the banners “Campaigning for Sustainable Agriculture…Is that Criminal?” read another.

“It is incredible that the opposition to this clearly inhumane industry has such draconian punishments,” Erasmus Müller, from the Berlin action on Monday.

More

This is Rubbish are delighted to bring you their first pop up Feast since the People’s Millions funded Feast tour of 2011. We are embarking on journey’s a new, and have been devising many a new activity and journey into the world of preventable food waste.

On the 22^nd and 23^rd June, the This is Rubbish troupe will be running La Wasterie workshop saloon  at Walthamstow’s Appetite food festival.  Come join us in La Wasterie, to learn about food waste through participatory and hands on workshops, waste crusaders puppet making session, chuck out chain food waste games and the opportunity to engage with food waste on a  policy level, by pledging to support the This is Rubbish policy change asks.

For more information on Saturday’s La Wasterie and Sunday’s Gleaners Voyage Feast read on below. The Feast is ticketed, and tickets can be purchased here.

La Wasterie – Saturday 22

The Green Space, Walthamstow Town Square

 Activities run between10am – 4pm

Be prepared to be filled by a rich menu of food waste activities and workshops. We invite you to join us in our arts led educational saloon, La Wasterie. Here you will learn about industry food waste, where it happens and what can be done to stop it. Activities suitable for all ages.

Amuse Bouche: The Gleaners Quest – A treasure hunt whet your appetite for rubbish. Suitable for all ages. Starter

Starters: The Wastelanders –  A serving of fantastical puppets served from your own imagination. Mains

Main: Chuck-out Chain Game – An interactive taste of the supply chain with a dressing of discovery. Mapping skipping sites?

Dessert:  Just Dessert! – Join us in baking a Cake for Change, where each ingredient represents policy change and when we reach the total amount of ingredients for a large cake, we will bake it and invite you to eat it with us, to collectively call for policy change.