Plymouth Pots and Pans Amnesty

A ‘pots and pans amnesty’ is being held in Plymouth as part of our Grow, Share, Cook initiative to get more people cooking fresh food.

The event has been organised via the Our Plymouth volunteer scheme in partnership with Plymouth City Council, Tamar Grow Local, Food is Fun and Plymouth Community Homes.

You can take down your old pots and pans to the Grow, Share Cook marquee which will be outside Plymouth Guildhall from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 August from 9am to 5pm on any of the days.

The aim of the amnesty, which takes place during Plymouth’s Flavour Fest food festival, is to encourage local people to get rid of their surplus, unwanted pots and pans and donate them to help others who can’t afford them. There are 8,000 people a year using food banks in Plymouth so the aim is to help those in the city who can’t afford healthy food.

Plymouth City Council was selected by the Cabinet Office and Nesta as one of only seven cities in the UK to take part in the Cities of Service programme, and Our Plymouth is the name of the local project. Since its launch in October 2014, Our Plymouth has delivered 6,000 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables to families in need, helped more than 600 food bank users access fresh food, and helped over 500 families through its Energy Champions scheme. In addition the scheme has recruited more than 90 volunteers.

Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cities of Service Ambassador for Plymouth, said: “The pots and pans amnesty is a great opportunity to make use of unwanted items, recycling them so that those who need them can use them.

“Grow, Share, Cook is all about getting volunteers to grow more fresh fruit and vegetables and distributing food to those who need, so the pots and pans amnesty will complement the other work we are doing around this with our partners Tamar Grow Local, Food is Fun and Plymouth Community Homes.

“As a cooperative council, we believe Our Plymouth is a great vehicle to help us achieve our aim to create a fairer city where everyone does their bit, in this case through volunteering.”

Darin Halifax, Chief Cities of Service Officer for Plymouth, said: “The Fairness Commission identified that people in Plymouth need help to access healthier food and Our Plymouth was set up in response to that. In addition Thrive Plymouth, the ten year plan to improve health in Plymouth, identifies an unhealthy diet as one of four lifestyle behaviours – along with smoking, excessive drinking and inactivity, that together lead to 54 per cent of deaths in Plymouth.

“We can help change this by encouraging people to grow and cook their own fresh fruit and vegetables, and making it easier and cheaper for people to do this.

“We are also still always on the look-out for volunteers for Our Plymouth so please do get in touch if you are interested, we’d love to hear from you.”

The two main local volunteer projects under Our Plymouth are Grow, Share Cook and Energy Champions. Grow, Share, Cook involves the mobilisation of volunteers to grow more fresh fruit and vegetables, the development of community gardens, the distribution of the food to those in need and Cookery workshops to demonstrate the use of seasonal produce, while the Energy Champions project promotes energy efficiency across the city.

For more information on opportunities to volunteer for Our Plymouth, contact Darin Halifax on 01752 305446 or email darin.halifax@plymouth.org.uk

The Our Plymouth website can be accessed at www.ourplymouth.co.uk

For more information on the Grow, Share, Cook marquee, email info@foodisfun.org.uk or call 07818 450968.

You can also follow Our Plymouth on twitter at @ourplymouth