Spare Fruit

Producer: Spare Fruit, St Albans
Product: Air-dried apple crisps and air-dried pear crisps
Region: London and South East
Category: From the earth, artisan
What they do:
Spare Fruit’s social enterprise began in the summer of 2016 when its founder, Ben Whitehead, decided to take on Britain’s problem with food waste. Inspired by Rubies in the Rubble (a similar food waste project), Spare Fruit takes surplus produce – perfectly good fruit that is simply the wrong size, shape or colour to meet  supermarket grades – and transforms it into healthy fruit crisp snacks.
A lot of water and energy goes into growing the fruit and Ben’s project ensures that these natural resources aren’t squandered by giving the farmers the financial motivation to pick and sell on produce that would otherwise go to waste.
Since setting up his business in 2016, Ben and his team have managed to transform over 12 tonnes of unwanted apples and pears into air-dried fruit crisps.
What the judges said:
The judges were impressed by Spare Fruit’s initiative, admiring their commitment to turning around such vast quantities of surplus local fruit. They found Ben’s dedication to tackling food waste inspiring.

Visit the website:Spare Fruit