A city food waste charity that collects for free is urging local residents and businesses to donate usable surplus food they no longer have use for.

The Oxford Food Hub, based in Botley, issued a fresh appeal on Wednesday, highlighting that Oxfordshire contains some of hardest hit areas of England in relation to food waste.

The appeal read: “Good food should never end up in landfill, especially when so many people are forced to choose between heating and eating.

“Oxfordshire has 83 ‘areas’, 10 of which are amongst the 20 per cent most deprived in England, and it’s unbelievable to think that, without us, 518 tonnes of great quality surplus food would have ended up in landfill last year in the county.”

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The food hub works to mitigate food waste whilst supporting over 200 charities and community groups in the count by enabling them to spend more of their funds directly on their area of impact.

It joined forces with the Waste Innovation Station Headquarters in Kidlington for the first time last week, exploring ways to reduce consumption by re-purposing existing resources.

The service has now amassed over 100 volunteers, all of whom share a determination to prevent good food from going to waste.

The food hub now asks if you run or work for a business that often has excess food, or if you are an individual who would ordinarily dispose of food in good condition, to make contact with them so it can be redistributed to those in need.