A new “food bank” has been launched which looks to capitalise on supermarkets’ wasted product.

The non-profit organisation Re-plenish is to pick up ingredients that cannot be sold but have not passed their use-by date.

Two supermarkets have currently signed up to the scheme, which has been run as a pilot in Oxford since July.

Volunteers pick up supplies in the mornings and sort products at the charity's premises in Oxford.

The charity’s main goal is to support worthy causes and is also looking to help reduce waste.

Robin Aitken of Re-plenish told the BBC: "It has a dual advantage in getting decent food to people in need, saving on landfill and the cost of wasting good wholesome food."

The charity said it had collected enough food to make 1,000 meals a week since it started.

"The eventual ambition is to collect food from every supermarket in the city. Ideally we would arrive at a point in a couple of years' time where no good food in Oxford is wasted by supermarkets, but it is all distributed to people in need. That's a big ambition, but a worthwhile thing to aim for."

The move adds to work done by organisations such as the community food network FareShare in London which, alongside providing free food to organisations supporting vulnerable people, offers businesses a waste management system by taking all of their surplus stock.

FareShare, which receives food daily from manufacturers and retailers, counts Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s among its clients and receives enough food to feed more than 25,000 people each day through 500 community organisations.

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