over ten tonnes of edible food surplus collected at Glastonbury festival

around the festival site (the aftermath)

Glastonbury Festival 2015

Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th June 2015
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£220 (secured with a deposit) - SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 198,000

Last updated: Thu 18th Jun 2015

EighthPlate the Food waste project has collected over ten tonnes of surplus edible food from Glastonbury Festival this year to redistribute to those who need it.

The project, which was launched at the Festival after a successful trial last year, is an initiative led by FareShare South West, supported by The Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS) and A Greener Festival; it has been established to donate unsold food to a range of charities across the South West.

EighthPlate and campsite crews had collection points marked for Festival goers to drop off their leftover food items they had brought with them before they embarked on their journey back home.

The project intends to salvage 60 tonnes of unsold food at events this year, which will provide 143,000 meals for the most vulnerable, distributing the produce amongst food banks and soup kitchens in the South West.

At Glastonbury, the team are still in the process of collecting the leftover food which is estimated to exceed 10 tonnes and has so far included 4,000 bread rolls, 300 eggs, 250 sausages, 600 carrots, and 90 lettuces!

Emma Dyer, Project Manager at EighthPlate said, "We are so pleased with the leftover food waste that we have been able to collect from Glastonbury. We estimate that we will be able to produce over 24,000 meals from this Festival alone, which will be able to support those most in need. The food we have collected has enabled us to make chicken tagine, pork meatballs and lots of bread and butter pudding!"

It is believed that half of all food produced globally goes to waste and with more than four million people in the UK unable to afford a healthy diet, and reliance on food banks, public opinion is slowly turning against the culture of waste.

NCASS Director Mark Laurie said: "We are working closely with our members to assist them in managing their stock as effectively as possible in order to minimise waste. Where inefficiencies do occur though, we are keen to help those people that need it most. EighthPlate is a great cause to be supporting and we hope that the project can be rolled out across all festivals in the future."

EighthPlate will be collecting unwanted packaged food from more festivals during the summer including WOMAD, Wilderness, BoomTown, Shambala, and End of the Road.

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