A NEW cafe serving food destined for the bin where customers pay what they like, has officially opened in Saltaire.

The Saltaire Canteen is a new project on Victoria Road that makes the most out of food approaching its sell or use by date, but is still fine to eat.

Instead of being told what the dish costs, customers are instead given an envelope which they can fill with whatever they think the meal was worth. It means their donation is completely anonymous.

They can also pay for their food by volunteering some time at the cafe.

Those behind the scheme hope to not only fight back against the staggering amount of food wasted each year, but also help families who may not be able to afford without judgement.

Angus McNab, a local outreach co-ordinator for St Peter's Church which is heavily involved in the project, said the menu would be constantly changing, depending on what has been donated.

At Saturday's opening he said: "It has been busy, we even had a couple of people waiting in their cars outside before we opened. It is overwhelming how well people are supporting what we're doing.

"Nobody cares if you are not going to pay or not, which will help some poorer people."

Mr McNab said on the first day the majority of people paid what would be expected in a normal cafe.

He added: "A lot of the staff are volunteers, so as well as the menu changing depending on the food we have, a lot of the time it will be responding to what our volunteers want to cook that day. When people come in the menu will be different every time."

The canteen is part of the Shipley Food Project, an organisation that aims to reduce food waste and poverty through social action and education.

The food is donated by market traders and other food producers and there are currently talks ongoing with a major supermarket chain.

Saltaire Canteen is also a distribution point for the Bradford North Food Bank and will offer people referred to the food bank a cooked meal in the cafe, rather than just providing them with ingredients.

It has been inspired by the Real Junk Food cafe in Armley and the Saltaire location was chosen after discussions with the owners of the previous business in the building, Vicars Cafe Bistro, which was also a community space for church groups.

Laura Brooks, who lives in Saltaire, ate at the canteen on its opening day and said: "It's been lovely. It is disgusting how much food is thrown away so this is a great idea." Josie Harvey from Bingley added: "It has been perfect, the service has been really nice and I'd definitely come back."

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