Recycled wood to be used for Nottinghamshire food waste scheme

Kieran Percival (right, with Chris Wynne from Portland College) hopes the scheme will teach people new skills

A scheme to use recycled wood to help cut food poverty is set to be launched in Nottinghamshire.

Gardens of Giving, a community interest company set up in Ashfield, said it wanted to teach young people to grow their own food and teach residents new skills.

Scrap wood will be supplied to schools, colleges, and community groups to be turned into planters.

Donations of seeds will also be planted to get the first crops sown.

'Very ambitious'

A percentage of the food produced will also be given back to Gardens of Giving to distribute to local food banks, while some seeds will be collected from vegetables and fruits so more food can be grown the following year.

Kieran Percival, a local businessman who set up the scheme, said planters were being made at Portland College, with the group now looking for schools and local businesses across the Ashfield and Mansfield areas to house them.

While initially devised to help combat the "quite staggering" level of food waste and help people struggling with the cost of living, he said the "very ambitious" plan would also look to provide training opportunities for people looking to learn about how to grow food.

"We want to help more and more people, year on year, creating a better and more healthy, sustainable environment to live in," he said.

"If we can help with the numerous issues along the way, then that's what we will do."