Plan Zheroes at Borough Market

The ‘Zero Food Waste Heroes’ getting food to people in need

How we avoid good food going to waste

At the end of every trading day, a team of Plan Zheroes volunteers arrive at the market to collect surplus food from our traders.

This is food that hasn’t sold that is still perfectly good to eat, and the volunteers make sure it gets redistributed to people in need across our local community.

Since starting here in 2014, they’ve saved over 157 tonnes of great surplus food from being wasted – the equivalent of over 375,000 meals reaching people in need, and the equivalent of over 629 tonnes in CO² emissions saved.

How does it work?

Every day when trading ends, a team of volunteers arrive at the Market to collect any surplus food from our traders – this can include anything from bread baked that morning to packaged meals, meat, fish, fruit or veg.

They gather the food at the Plan Zheroes station, ready for charities and community groups to collect – providing good-quality meals and delicious ingredients to those in need. Deliveries are also made by bike to a few local shelters.

Get involved

More and more Borough Market traders are signing up to support Plan Zheroes, with over 50 traders donating their surplus food, which equates to thousands of meals a week.

To support the charity, sign up as a volunteer, or to find out how your organisation can get involved with Plan Zheroes, visit their website or contact [email protected].

Impact

Plan Zheroes began operating at Borough Market in 2014, and since then they’ve saved over 157 tonnes of great surplus food from being wasted.

That’s the equivalent of over 375,000 meals reaching people in need, and the equivalent of over 629 tonnes in CO² emissions saved.