- 143c Front Street, Chester le Street, DH3 3AU
Menu
We intercept tonnes and tonnes of perfectly good food that has wrongly been labelled ‘worthless’ due to systemic problems such as overproduction, strict cosmetic standards, damaged packaging, incorrect labelling, seasonal packaging, best-before dates, cancelled orders… etc.
REfUSE is based in Chester-le-Street: in April 2018 we launched a creative and inclusive ‘Pay As You Feel’ community cafe on the high street. We also run restaurant nights, education projects, and a supported volunteering scheme.
We are raising awareness and engagement about the climate and ecological impact of food waste, building community and providing healthy food and good company to anyone that wants it.
We operate on a ‘Pay As You Feel’ basis: guests can pay for their meals in cash, but non-monetary donations of time or skills are just as valuable and each person can decide what to contribute. We believe PAYF encourages us to think about the true value of food: the resources, time and energy that has gone into producing it, but also includes and empowers those who may struggle to afford food.
Our global food system is responsible for more than a third of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is the single biggest contributor to biodiversity loss, deforestation, drought, freshwater pollution and the collapse of aquatic wildlife.
Climate change is happening, it affects everyone, but the poorest and most vulnerable are and will continue to be hit the hardest.
One third – many say more like 40% – of the food that is grown to be eaten is lost or wasted. This means emissions from food waste alone are 10% of the world’s emissions – more than the aviation industry.
In the UK, 6.4 Million tonnes of edible food goes to waste from businesses and households. Worth £19 Million, this would be associated with more than 25 Mt of GHG emissions, and would make the equivalent of over 15 billion meals – enough to feed the entire UK population 3 meals a day for 11 weeks (WRAP)
Food waste is an environmental problem, caused by a broken food system, and we’re doing all we can to combat it.
Awards
North East Recycling Forum (NERF) 2025 Best Waste Minimisation Award for our Eat Smart project in schools.
County Durham Environment Awards 2024 awarded to Cestria Primary School: Outstanding Award given for the Eat Smart project that REfUSE runs with young people across County Durham.
The Northern Echo Business IQ Awards 2023 Community Impact Award Winner REfUSE Cafe
The Northern Echo County Durham Together Awards 2021 Environmental Award Winner, REfUSE Cafe.
Project Choice Thank you for mentoring 2020
Environment Awards 2018 – REfUSE Durham Outstanding Award, Altogether Greener
Environment Awards 2018 – REfUSE Durham Greener Business Category Winner Altogether Greener
Environmental Awards 2018 – REfUSE Durham Waste Management Category Winner Altogether Greener
Funders
We are incredibly grateful to all our funders without whom we could not operate in the way we do and who help us make REfUSE such a great place to work.