To explain how the surplus food collections work, we have Pippa, our amazing volunteer, who decided to share her experience with you.
We know we’re all passionate about Borough Market and its colours, its flavors, and the amazing traders and food that you can find in every corner. But did you know there is a way to visit and spend more time at Borough Market while doing good?
At Plan Zheroes, we have been working in partnership with Borough Market for over 10 years. Our amazing volunteers collect surplus food from the traders just before closing and make sure that all the unsold surplus food is not wasted!
For this article, and to explain how the surplus food collection works, we have Pippa, our amazing volunteer, who decided to share her experience with you.
Pippa’s experience as a Plan Zheroes volunteer
Having followed Plan Zheroes on instagram for the last few years, I finally found the time and drummed up the courage to get involved. I signed up online and created an account which was all really easy and meant a welcoming email landed straight into my inbox. All the necessary information such as timings, meeting place and sessions can be shared by phone or email and the next step was joining a WhatsApp group full of enthusiastic volunteers.
There’s a really easy online schedule to sign up for sessions and you can decide whether you’d like to pick up surplus produce around the market or cycle the collected food to the ever deserving charities. So I signed up for my first ever slot. The meeting time is about 4:45 but my train either arrived at 4:30 or 4:44, so of course being eager on my first day I chose the much earlier train meaning I was way too early so spent my time getting acquainted with the market and double / triple checking the meeting point.
But sure enough at 4:45 on the dot the team all appeared and saw me as a lost Plan Zheroes soul and welcomed me aboard! We were a team of four so I quickly got to know the ropes on setting up the collection point and with purple vis jackets on I buddied up with a fellow Plan Zheroes – we were off.
The market is a hum of activity all day but even more so as the stalls start to close and pack up. Time is of the essence so we zip in and around the market popping in to see if there was any surplus food to be donated or getting flagged down to pick up bits and bobs and take them to the collection point. The stalls are used to seeing our purple high visibile jackets so know we’re on the look out. Despite it being a cold day in early March, I quickly warmed up running about with loaves of bread under my arm and fresh veg in a bag while getting called over left right and centre.
Once we collect food from the stores, we make a note of the name (or take a photo in case we forget!), and someone at the collection point notes down the name of the stall and the amount / type of food donated. As the market rapidly winds down and the piles of food at the collection point start mounting, we then start organising it into different allocation areas for the charities who start arriving at 5:30. We had 3 charities turn up who happily accepted different amounts of the surplus food.
On my first day we managed to collect 86kg of food and I was over the moon that I helped!
I quickly signed up for my next session and loved it. Such a big fan of the Plan Zheroes – what a brilliant way to redirect leftover food from one of London’s best markets. I’m looking forward to volunteering again in future.
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