A GREEN group in Redditch has joined the revolution to reduce food waste and help people in poverty.

Members of Transition Town Redditch recently joined a group of 20 volunteers from the Worcestershire Gleaning Network to pick apples that would otherwise have been left to rot on the trees.

Picking more than three tonnes of apples on a farm near Alcester, the harvest was distributed to charities and social centres helping the homeless and people on low incomes.

Organisations which benefited include Redditch Food Bank, The Sandycroft Centre, Redditch Youth and Community Enterprise and The Emmanuel Church.

Local gleaner Alistair Waugh said: "There really wasn't much wrong with these apples, yet they were rejected by a supermarket after some apples were marked by a recent hailstorm. Other apples were too small.

"Every year a fifth of all the fruit and vegetables grown on farms in Europe never actually leaves the farm. However, in the UK alone there are more than five million people in poverty. It's time to put a stop to food waste. We need a revolution in how food is produced and distributed."

The Worcestershire Gleaning Network, set-up this year, has already rescued more than 15 tonnes of apples over the last month.

Mr Waugh added: "Interest in gleaning has increased since the recent Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall War on Waste TV programmes. Next year we hope more Worcestershire farmers and growers will contact us, so we can not just save apples from rotting but soft fruit, root crops and other vegetables."

For more details on the glean revolution, visit feedbackglobal.org.