A former university student has played a significant role in preventing over one million surplus pancakes from being discarded in less than three years. James Eid initiated Earth & Wheat in March 2021 with the introduction of the world’s first ‘wonky bread box’ as part of his commitment to reducing food waste and addressing environmental concerns.

According to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), approximately 16 percent of all food waste in the UK originates at the production stage, often due to items not meeting strict retail standards regarding size, shape, or color.

Eid, a fourth-generation baker, began salvaging baked goods from his family bakery in Dunstable, Hertfordshire, after witnessing the considerable volume of bread discarded daily. Within Earth & Wheat’s initial six weeks, he sold 10,000 boxes and subsequently collaborated with other independent bakeries to aid in waste reduction efforts.

The diverse ‘variety wonky bread box’ offered by Earth & Wheat includes pancakes, tortilla wraps, crumpets, focaccia, folded flatbreads, pitta, and even naans. For each box sold, Eid contributes a meal to food distribution charities. Additionally, the Earth & Wheat brand provides rescued fruit and vegetables in combination boxes with bread.

In anticipation of Pancake Day (February 13), Earth & Wheat disclosed its statistics for rescued pancakes from 2021 to 2023, totalling 1,173,592 individual pancakes, with an additional 35,448 donated to food charities. Over the course of three years, Eid’s company has saved an astounding 1,209,040 pancakes from being discarded.

Eid, 22, who pursued Business studies at Lancaster University before graduating last summer, expressed his satisfaction with Earth & Wheat’s accomplishments. He emphasized the absurdity of wasting perfectly edible food due to superficial imperfections and stressed the need to curtail such practices.

“It is amazing to think that when Earth & Wheat started it was just a concept – to try and do all we can to reduce food waste and make a difference,” said Eid. “It is total madness to throw away perfectly good food just because the tortilla wrap is not a perfect circle, or a crumpet has too many holes – or not enough – in it when it still tastes exactly the same whatever it looks like!”

“More than one in of every 10 pieces of all food is thrown away at the point it is produced in the supply chain because it doesn’t look perfectly right, and this needs to stop because no good food should go to waste,” he added.

Earth & Wheat has also prevented over 600 tonnes of bread, 60 tonnes of vegetables, and a total of 600 tonnes of food from going to waste since its establishment. Moreover, the company has donated 300,000 meals to UK food charities.

Membership to Earth & Wheat’s bakery boxes contributes to reducing CO2eq emissions, with an average saving of 153kg per year and preventing 2.9kg of greenhouse gas emissions weekly.

The award-winning brand recently aligned with The King’s Coronation Food Project’s initiative, donating 2,894 ‘meals’ to FareShare, a charity dedicated to redistributing surplus food to frontline charities, thus preventing good food from going to waste.

Image attribution: PIC BY STEWART TURKINGTON
www.stphotos.co.uk

Editorial contact:
Editor: Kiran Grewal kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk