Surplus food rescue with Closing Loops
What is gleaning? Gleaning is an ancient practice where crops left over after the harvest are collected from farmers’ fields. Even today, it happens surprisingly often that it is not commercially viable for a farmer to harvest all their crop, leading to food waste and loss of profits for farmers. And so this practice is now being revived by community groups across the UK, making sure surplus produce is harvested by volunteers and redistributed for bellies, not bins.
It’s not waste – unless we waste it!
Somewhat different from “scrumping” or “dumpster diving”, which may not have the consent of the owner of the land or tree, our gleans are entirely legal and done in cooperation with the owners. The harvested crops are always in perfect edible condition, and are far from being waste. It’s a win-win for anyone too busy to harvest all their crops, for volunteers to have a fun day out and take home some fresh produce, and ultimately for people in need of extra food. Eggcup‘s excellent redistribution system ensures that all harvested food gets redistributed to those most in need, and that any excess is processed and preserved so as little as possible goes to waste.
What we’ve achieved so far
North Lancashire’s Gleaning Project was originally trialled and scoped by FoodFutures in 2020, redistributing gleaned produce from West Lancashire through local charities. Since 2022, the project has been funded through the Closing Loops project, with Eggcup employing a coordinator to lead on surplus food acquisition.
Between 2022 and the end of 2025, there have been:
- 59 gleaning trips
- involving 363 participants
- bringing an estimated 25 tonnes of freshly picked produce into Lancaster’s food charity network
The project began by gleaning from commercial farms (primarily brassicas such as kale and cauliflower) and from local community farm Claver Hill.
In 2023, the surplus fruit rescue campaign “Share the Harvest” was conceived of and launched by the gleaning network and Closing Loops project. Share the Harvest now happens annually as a festival that brings people together to harvest fruit from local and community orchards, get fruit into the food system and encourage people to preserve it. Find out more in this case study.
Share the Harvest
Sign up as a gleaning volunteer with Eggcup. Please complete the signup form to get so we can add you to our mailing list and invite you to gleaning events. There are no obligations attached to completing the form, and you can decide for each glean whether you’d like to join or not.
Donate surplus food
Could you host a group of gleaning network volunteers to harvest and collect surplus food from your farm, orchard or garden? Get in touch to discuss your options so you don’t get stuck with food waste.
Get involved
Are you a community group and interested in gleaning or accessing more fresh produce? Gleaning could work for you. The Closing Loops gleaning coordinator Jay would love to hear from you and talk you through what’s involved in setting up gleaning events.
Volunteer
If you’d like to get involved as a gleaning volunteer for gleaning events we organise, please get in touch to be added to the mailing list and stay in the loop about upcoming opportunities.
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GET INVOLVED
Are you a community group and interested in gleaning or accessing more fresh produce? Gleaning could work for you. The Closing Loops gleaning coordinator Jay (jay_cl@eggcup.org) would love to hear from you and talk you through what’s involved in setting up gleaning events. Support is available for groups to develop their own gleans.
Once you have identified a farmer who is willing to work with you, the rest often falls into place quite easily, though you may need to borrow equipment or vehicles initially.
As relationships between community groups and farmers deepen, the frequency of gleaning opportunities often increases, with more notice given to make events easier to organise. Getting started now can help secure stronger local food security for the future.
If you’re not currently part of a relevant group but would still like to get involved as a gleaning volunteer, you can join the mailing list for gleaning events that we organise. Email jay_cl@eggcup.org to be added, and we’ll keep you informed about upcoming opportunities.
CONTACT
To find out more about Eggcup, the Closing Loops project and the North Lancashire Gleaning Network, please get in touch with the Closing Loops Gleaning Coordinator Jay Godden.
ABOUT CLOSING LOOPS
Closing Loops is a collaborative project created to stimulate a thriving local economy in North Lancashire. You can find out more about Closing Loops on the Closing Loops project page.
Eggcup is a local charity that stops surplus food from going to waste and gets it to people instead. Most of Eggcup’s work is done by volunteers who want to contribute to building a stronger community and making good use of surplus food.
FUNDING AND PARTNERS
Closing Loops is a FoodFutures project launched in 2022 and funded by the National Lottery Climate Action Fund. It brings together six key local organisations (LESS, Lancaster District CVS, Eggcup, Global Link, Shared Future and Scientists For Global Responsibility) in order to take forward big chunks of ‘Our Food Futures: a community food strategy for North Lancashire’.
