The UK’s leading food waste recycler, ReFood, has launched its campaign for a third consecutive year, to tackle two issues which are brought into sharp focus during the festive period, the increase in food waste, and the plight of homelessness.

The campaign will see ReFood donate money to local charities, for every new customer who signs up for food waste collection. In the spirit of their closed loop energy from waste process, ReFood will also be making donations towards the charities’ heating bills.

The initiative has become an annual event for ReFood, and to date has raised thousands of pounds for charity, whilst significantly reducing the amount of food waste sent to landfill.

ReFood operates a network of state-of-the-art Anaerobic Digestion (AD) processing plants across the UK, turning unavoidable food waste into renewable energy and bio-fertiliser. Around Christmas time in particular, both food waste and the problem of homelessness are brought to the fore. In the UK on Christmas day alone, we throw away 34,000 tonnes of food waste [1], and last year, there were 4,134 homeless people in the UK, up a startling 16% from 2015[2].

Through their campaign, ReFood are targeting both of these serious issues. This year’s campaign will see donations made to one of five homeless charities for every new bin collection signed up during November, December and January, to aid their efforts in helping provide food, drink, advice and accommodation to the homeless. As well as this, ReFood will also be making a contribution towards the charities’ heating bills over the festive period, ensuring they’re able to cope with the added demand for their services.

In previous years, ReFood have supported selected homeless charities, and last year raised thousands of pounds for five organisations across the country. The money raised was divided between St George’s Crypt in Leeds, Liverpool’s The Whitechapel Centre, Manchester-based Barnabus, Sheffield charity Sunday Centre and SHP in Dagenham, the same charities that will benefit again this year.