Bind is a non-profit food waste hub in Newcastle that uses positive, creative approaches to reduce food waste and drive behaviour change so that more food can be saved. Kavli Trust has decided to support Bind with NOK 1 million for 2024-2025 so that they can scale up their activities.
Bind was founded by Duncan Fairbrother and Jess Miller in 2015. Both have worked in the food industry, and wanted to use their expertise to do something about climate challenges related to food waste.
Four step programme
Kavli Trust has supported Bind’s Eat Smart programme since 2021. Children, teachers and kitchen staff work together on a fun, four-step programme that fits neatly into one half-term. Pupils first conduct a food waste audit. A ‘food awareness’ week explores where food comes from and how to avoid it becoming waste. A food waste prevention plan is then created and actioned by the pupils, teachers and chefs.
Since 2021, the Eat Smart programme has been implemented in 22 schools for more than 5,000 children.
With the new funding, more than 2,400 pupils will take part in reducing food waste by at least 25 percent.
Scaling up
“The new funding from Kavli will make a huge difference to our work, allowing us to deliver Eat Smart in an additional 12 schools. It will enable us to develop the programme to be delivered in Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools and build on the long-term legacy element of the project”, says Duncan Fairbrother.
Assessments have shown that the children are encouraged to reduce food waste in their respective homes, in this way helping to reduce the family’s food budget. There is some evidence that the programme to some extent leads to new and healthier eating habits.
Innovative and efficient
Grant Manager of Kavli Trust in the UK, Rune Mørland, says that Kavli Trust has a special responsibility and potential to contribute to sustainable solutions within consumption and production.
“Going forward we want to strengthen our support towards our second focus area, climate, responsible consumption and production. Bind Food Waste is an efficient, innovative, and well recognized organisation in Newcastle who we are excited to support going forward”, says Mørland.
Through this partnership, Bind and Kavli Trust will not only work together to secure the redistribution of food thru The Magic Hat Cafe, but also in supporting the food audit program Eat Smart, and the Partnership Program to establish a common strategy for food waste together with the local government in Newcastle.
“Projects that can save food from waste are a high priority for Kavli Trust. Bind has produced good results in a short time and managed to develop as an organisation and resource centre in the field of reducing food waste”, says Mørland.
He also highlights The Eat Smart Programme, a food rescue programme for schools developed by Bind:
“Bind has with this project developed an effective and innovative program to systematically reduce food waste in the schools in the UK. We are amazed by the engagement and commitment that the programme brings out in the children. It demonstrates the importance and great potential of including children in discovering new ways to reduce food waste and saving the environment”.
Duncan Fairbrother adds that the Kavli support will allow Bind to recruit an assistant to help deliver the project.
“The contribution to our core operations is incredibly valuable and very rare, allowing us to improve internal operations and make our organisation more sustainable. Future key milestones include developing the resources to be delivered in a SEN school and commencing work on measuring our social impact across the organisation. We can’t wait to get started!”
Photo on top: Kavli Trust and Kavli UK meeting pupils participating in the Eat Smart programme at Cestria School, May 2023. Photo: Hanne Eide Andersen/Kavli Trust
FACTS
- Bind focuses on changing public attitudes, education, local policy and collaborating with local private, public and third sector organisations to deliver consistent, effective projects to reduce food waste.
- As a core part of their strategy, Bind operates a café called The Magic Hat Cafe. The cafe aims to divert good food from landfill, and raise awareness on food waste by ‘upcycling’ surplus food to feed the community.
- The Eat Smart programme looks at food waste created on a primary school site, and helps children to understand the importance of reducing food waste from a young age.
- Through its work, Bind saves an average of two tons of food a week, or approximately 1000 tons per year.
Read more:
Bind home page
Reducing food waste with positive, creative approaches
Bind archive
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