Another 7.4 tonnes of food rescued from going to waste at Silverstone by dedicated team of volunteers

Another 7.4 tonnes of fresh food has been rescued from going to waste at Silverstone by a dedicated team of volunteers from two Northamptonshire food larders.

Just a few weeks ago, Towcester and Roade Community Larders collected 11.2 tonnes of food that would have otherwise been thrown away at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit – with 40 volunteers who made it all possible.

Working alongside the sustainability team at Silverstone, a further food rescue mission took place last weekend at the MotoGP, when 12 volunteers managed to rescue 7.4 tonnes.

More than five tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables were among the food rescued, which was distributed to the community through a pop-up on Monday (August 7).

With 250 members of the community that visited the recent pop-up and 650 who visited the one following the Grand Prix, the food larder’s coordinator Katie Steele says many people have messaged to express their gratitude for the hard work of the volunteers.

Though the MotoGP has a smaller attendance, Katie says there is a lot more awareness of what the food larders do at Silverstone and the teams are ready for their arrival to pick up the surplus food.

“It’s really important to get fresh fruit and veg to the people who don’t put it as a priority as it’s expensive to buy in shops,” Katie added. “Kids have been able to have fresh fruit and vegetables during the school holidays.”

Having delivered a record breaking food rescue mission at Silverstone last month, Katie says it was “phenomenal” and “massively exceeded expectations”.

She added: “People are more aware of what we can collect and how, thanks to Silverstone getting the word out there and for being reactive.”

As well as their important work distributing surplus food to the community over the last couple of weeks, Towcester Community Larder also moved premises.

Now a few doors down from their previous location, they share a council building with an adult social care team that have welcomed them in and Katie says it has been a “really positive move”.