Innocent has come up with an ingenious scheme to turn unsold fruit into smoothies for schoolchildren.
Under an eight-week trial launched last Friday, unwanted fruit collected by one of Innocent's partners in the scheme, food donation charity FareShare, is being delivered to a primary school in East Sheen, London.
At the school, Innocent is working with food waste organisation A Taste of Freedom to teach pupils how to make the fruit into healthy drinks with the help of a 'blender-vendor' a device that allows a smoothie blender to be hooked up to, and powered by, a bicycle.
Innocent, which plans to roll the scheme out to other schools if the trial is successful, said all the fruit used in the initiative had been "in the wrong place at the wrong time" in the supply chain and had not made it on to shop shelves.
No old or mouldy fruit would be used and all produce would meet quality requirements, it assured.
During the trial, Innocent will visit the school once a week and hopes to produce enough smoothies to cater for at least half the school each week.
"Taking unwanted fruit that would normally just head to landfill and turning it in to something delicious and healthy for kids in schools was a no-brainer for us," said Innocent sustainability manager Louise Stevens. "We've always been a business that has taken our environmental impact seriously."
The company hopes to roll the programme out to more schools across the country in the new year.
Under an eight-week trial launched last Friday, unwanted fruit collected by one of Innocent's partners in the scheme, food donation charity FareShare, is being delivered to a primary school in East Sheen, London.
At the school, Innocent is working with food waste organisation A Taste of Freedom to teach pupils how to make the fruit into healthy drinks with the help of a 'blender-vendor' a device that allows a smoothie blender to be hooked up to, and powered by, a bicycle.
Innocent, which plans to roll the scheme out to other schools if the trial is successful, said all the fruit used in the initiative had been "in the wrong place at the wrong time" in the supply chain and had not made it on to shop shelves.
No old or mouldy fruit would be used and all produce would meet quality requirements, it assured.
During the trial, Innocent will visit the school once a week and hopes to produce enough smoothies to cater for at least half the school each week.
"Taking unwanted fruit that would normally just head to landfill and turning it in to something delicious and healthy for kids in schools was a no-brainer for us," said Innocent sustainability manager Louise Stevens. "We've always been a business that has taken our environmental impact seriously."
The company hopes to roll the programme out to more schools across the country in the new year.
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