COMMUNITY groups in East Lancashire have helped a charity serve up one million meals.

Recycling Lives hit the milestone at its Food Redistribution Centre, by supplying food to charitable groups, including the Waste Not Want Not food group in Blackburn.

The Preston based business uses its recycling and waste management operations to support and sustain a number of charitable ventures, including the centre, the Lancashire and Cumbria arm of national charity FareShare.

The Food Redistribution Centre has been working with the food group, based in EnergyZone community centre in Highercroft, since March 2016, as well as Blackburn Youth Zone, Blackburn Food Bank, Canterbury House, Ivy Street Community Centre, Mill Hill Community Trust, Oswaldtwistle School, Salvation Army Blackburn, Shadsworth Community Breakfast Club, Tauheedul Boys School and Blackburn Women’s Refuge, and Burnley's Bean Good Coffee Shop, The Work Company and the Rocking Horse Club at Walton Lane Nursery Club.

Waste Not Want Not volunteer Joanne Mason said: “Our work with the Food Redistribution Centre has allowed us to add another amazing money-saving, useful, supportive activity to our existing project.

“One lady said the money she has saved, from collecting her portion and the free bread available every week, has meant she is now able to afford to take her son swimming.”

This is one of the Food Redistribution Centre’s network of 100 community food members, through which it distributes the equivalent of 13,000 meals a week to feed around 5,000 people.

CFMs pay a £100 membership fee to take regular collections of food, saving them an average of £8,000 in food costs.

Burnley's Bean Good Coffee Shop manager Jill Webster said: “Without this food our community provision would not be able to operate or donate meals to those in need.

“With access to the food we have been able to supply food parcels for Syrian refugees, provide free, hot meals to children and families in poverty and create volunteer placements within the café."

Working with food suppliers it redistributes the surplus goods, which would otherwise have been destined for landfill.

By delivering one million meals, it has diverted 430 tonnes of goods from landfill.

Recycling Lives’ Jeff Green, manager of the centre, said: “It is a fantastic milestone for us to reach one million meals.

“In many cases it is about much more than just the food - by providing it our community food members can then support people in education, employment, health, homelessness, finances, family and much more, and also invest their often-scarce resources in other areas.”

Recycling Lives also manages offender rehabilitation programmes which significantly reduce reoffending rates and a residential charity for homeless adults.