OXFORD’S first food surplus café will be rolled out to communities across Oxford after launching earlier this year.

Pop-up cafés will be set up in areas of the city such as Barton, Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill and Cutteslowe after organisers of the service decided to expand.

The café, which was launched in East Oxford, invites customers to pay what they want for sandwiches and salads made from food thrown away by supermarkets and restaurants.

With Christmas fast approaching campaigners urged families to not waste the excess food bought for festive occasions at this time of year.

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Last month more than 100 residents in Barton attended a pop-up café in the Neighbourhood Centre, Underhill Circus.

Organiser Peter Lefort said because of the success of the first food surplus café and the pop-up services trialled around the city, more would be set up.

He added: “What we are trying to do is set up in different community centres.

“We have started looking at Rose Hill, Barton, Blackbird Leys and Cutteslowe as areas we can expand in to. We did one in Barton a few weeks ago and they seemed really keen to have us back.

“Over 100 people turned up and it was a really good way to tell people about food surplus.”

Oxfordshire County Council said the average restaurant wastes around 21 tonnes per year in unused food and leftovers, which costs the business thousands of pounds every year in waste and recycling bills.

The surplus café asks people, restaurants and supermarkets for food that would otherwise have gone to waste.

It only accepts donations of food before the use-by dates.

The aim of food surplus cafés is to get people to think about how much food they buy and throw away.

Mr Lefort said that it is even more important to think about it at Christmas time.

Jake Anderson, 22, said he joined the surplus café team when he first moved to Oxford.

He added: “Around Christmas time there is a lot of food waste at homes.

“It’s a huge amount, so we encourage people to donate their leftovers but another message is that the cafés promote community spirit.

“People can get isolated and some people do not have places to go out to.

“By having more cafes we hope to get people of all ages to come and socialise.”