£50k boost for zero waste food pantries
TWO successful community shops that save perfectly good food from going to waste by putting it in the cupboards of Inverclyde residents is to receive more than £50,000 of council funding.
The zero waste food pantries in Grieve Road, Greenock, and John Wood Street in Port Glasgow Town Centre are to benefit from the local authority’s anti-poverty fund.
Members of the policy and resources committee unanimously agreed to provide £30,000 to The Pantry in Grieve Road to support its work for another year.
Both pantries will also benefit from £21k of council funding to extend the local authority’s membership of the Fare Share Scotland scheme which sources and supplies surplus food that both shops sell to its members.
The Greenock pantry was the first of its kind outside of Glasgow when it was established in December 2020 with the Port Glasgow unit opening in July 2022.
They are run by Inverclyde Community Development Trust (The Trust) with support from the council and there is in excess of 1,700 members across both, with Grieve Road accounting for around 80 per cent.
Councillor Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council and convener of policy and resources, said: “The Pantry model has been hugely successful and you can tell by the increasing number of members how well-received they have been by people not just in the communities in which they are based but by people from across Inverclyde.
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“For a small membership fee, people can access to fresh, low-cost produce right on their doorstep that has been salvaged from a range of suppliers that would have otherwise gone to waste.
“In these challenging financial times and as winter really starts to bite, it’s important we do all we can to ease financial hardship of our hard-working families and assets like The Pantry are a great way of doing that.”
Pantry membership costs £1 a year and then £2.50 for a weekly shop in return for around £15-worth of goods.
Based on the £2.50 weekly shop, both pantries have generated community savings of more than £850k.
The pantry model has also developed to offer in-shop support with things like health and wellbeing, finances, and access to benefits in partnership with a range of local and national agencies.
More than 30 people have also had the opportunity to volunteer across the two pantries, gaining skills and experience which have supported them into further learning or employment in the area.
While the council supports both pantries, it remains a key partner of the one in Grieve Road while the John Wood Street pantry also receives funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.
Funding is being used by the council’s anti-poverty fund.
The full council meeting is available to watch on the Inverclyde Council YouTube channel and associated papers are on the council website, both of which can be accessed via the links in the Related Links and Other Websites sections of this page.