You know us at Gower Power: we hate waste, we love local, and we’re always looking for ingenious projects that support people and the planet.
So we could not resist a project that saves locally grown fruit from going to waste and distributes it to people struggling to get healthy food. Instead of releasing methane as it rots beneath trees, before being rounded up as garden waste and transported to Carmarthenshire, good fruit can be kept local and put to good use.
“For many, fresh fruit is an expensive luxury while much of our own locally grown fruit is wasted,” explains Anna Williams, co-ordinator of Cyfoeth y Coed/ Sweet Pickings.
Cyfoeth y Coed will harvest fruit – mostly apples – from over 80 sites which local people have helped map out. In partnership with FareShare Cymru – experts in redistributing excess food – the pickings will be delivered to 24 local organisations supporting people in food poverty, including food banks, Unity in Diversity and Matt’s Café. An estimated 3,000kg of apples will be shared across Swansea each year.
Specimens rejected by FareShare have a destiny as juice, cider vinegar and chutney. (Check out Gower Group’s Store More project for ingenious ways to preserve food).
Cyfoeth y Coed’s main costs are one-off start-up expenses, to be met through crowdfunding. “We’re creating a database of all the geographical, legal, and other information associated with fruit picking and buying harvesting equipment such as ladders, picking poles and hard hats to use for years to come,” Anna explains. When not in use, the equipment will be available to borrow from Swansea Environment Centre’s Tool Library.
Cyfoeth y Coed will get a DOUBLE BUBBLE of funding support over the next week: Gower Power will match whatever is raised, up to their funding target, from June 1-7. So if you’re tempted to chip in, please do so now and we’ll double your donation.
It’s thanks to people buying green energy that we can support great projects like this one. To get a quote for becoming a Gower Power energy customer, please click here.
