Chester-le-Street food charity wins County Durham environment prize

Each month the team, led by Mim Skinner and Nikki Dravers, takes in about 13 tonnes of unwanted food and redistributes it across the region.

This includes serving up imaginative dishes at the REfUSE ‘pay as you feel’ community cafe. Through its work, based in Chester-le-Street, it creates an environment where people can make friends and learn new skills.

Its aim is to raise awareness of the climate and ecological impact of food waste, and by diverting food “into bellies, not bins” it saves carbon equivalent to driving a car around the circumference of the earth six times each month.

During the pandemic REfUSE’s work pivoted to focus not just on the environment, but also food poverty.

Director Mim said: “So much climate activism can be abstract – it is far away and about big changes. It can be hard to make it matter to people and I get that feeling of ‘what can I do?’.

“But food is one thing we all need and can see and understand.

“What excites me is that at a grassroots level, 150 volunteers each day – through their skills and passion – are preventing landfill, are learning the difference they can make, and are sharing that.

“During the pandemic we thought not only about the carbon cost of food waste but also how we could help people who were struggling, so we made up about 90,000 emergency meals.”

The County Durham Together Awards 2021 take place at Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham City. Winner of the Environment Award, REfUSE Cafe chat with event host Pete Barron. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

The project won the environment award at the County Durham Together Awards, which were held by The Northern Echo, in association with Durham County Council, at Ramside Hall on Thursday night.

Read more: County Durham Together Awards: What an amazing night of celebration

Judges said: “ReFuse cafe has demonstrated how it is tackling the huge issue of commercial food waste and distributing it fairly on an afford-to-pay basis, as well as helping the community to cook and eat healthily.

“Food waste is a major climate and environmental issue, and this group has managed to grow this non-profit business with no big financial assistance coming in.

“The whole project is most impressive, particularly in terms of addressing the climate crisis and waste, and tackling food poverty. It has achieved this as a self-financing community business – a deserved winner.”

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