A FOOD recycling project which has served 1000 community meals has reached a major milestone.

Volunteers at FoodCycle Chester-le-Street celebrated the project’s first birthday last week.

Since March 2016, the project has converted surplus food into three-course meals served in the Cornerstones Centre every Saturday at 6pm.

Over the last 12 months, the volunteer team has saved more than 2.5 tonnes of food from going in the bin and instead used it to cook 1,000 meals as well as give away over 300 parcels of food for guests to take home.

On Saturday, 35 guests joined the celebrations which included a meal made entirely from surplus food donated from Morrisons, Sainsburys, Hollathan’s Restaurant and 5-A-Day greengrocer.

On the menu was beetroot and tomato canapés, cheesy-beany nachos, moussaka, fruit salad, banana ice cream and a birthday cake.