The Real Junk Food Projecti is a global movement that was established to support
The promotion of waste food reduction and the use of surplus: and
Advancing the education of the public about all aspects of food waste generation, waste management and waste recycling.
It is environmental and sustainability project. The long term aim of the project is to demonstrate the scale and senselessness of food waste, and the most productive transfer of this energy, is to make it accessible to everyone feeding bellies not bins, provide grass roots education and create inclusive environments for all. TRJFP opened the UK’s first Pay As You Feel café in Armley, Leeds in Dec 2013. TRJFP has evelved the PAYF concept to a whole new level to come from an environmental angle and focus on abolishing food waste, rather than focussing on food poverty as a central issue. It chooses not to focus on financial donations and allow customers to offer, their time, money or skills in return for the food. The evolution of this concept - Stops the de-valuing of food – allowing people to recognise the value of food in money, time, skills and energy inviting customers to get involved in the project, and to consider the amount of energy, time and cost has gone into growing, storing, processing and transporting this food, it deserves to be recognised. Values the individual – it creates an environment where people can give anything they want in order to have access to our food and service. PAYF has empowered and inspired communities of people to come together and feel responsible for a hub of activity within their towns and cities. It has broken down social barriers and stigmas surrounding access to food. It does not act like a charity, no referrals are needed, and the model avoids the stigma that can accompany food banks and other projects that only welcome those on limited incomes. In Nov 2015 the UK’s first PAYF café opened inside a primary school Leeds. The recognition of hunger as a barrier to learning led to the creation of Fuel For School, To empower young people to REALLY feed the world by Removing hunger as a barrier to learning and to improve educational outcomes for the children of the school.Enabling schools and their families to have access to surplus food on a Pay As You Feel (PAYF) basis.To educate children about food waste issues.
