Wonky fruit and veg delivery scheme Oddbox comes to homes across Portsmouth to help combat food waste

Or the bananas that are too bent? Or wondered what happens to all the imperfect or surplus fruit and vegetables in this country?

Too often this produce ends up in the bin.

And that’s exactly the kind of food waste that one couple is hoping to combat with a fruit and veg delivery box scheme.

Deepak Ravindran, 41, and Emilie Vanpoperinghe,39, set up Oddbox in London in 2016.

The idea has proved so popular that the business has expanded and it launched its services across Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester last week.

Deepak said: ‘When we first started delivering boxes four years ago, we did it only in a small area in south-west London. Since then, we have been expanding our delivery area as more and more people expressed interest in joining us on this journey.

‘We want to be available UK-wide so we can take our mission, the fight against food waste, further. We've expanded for the first time outside of London in July and little by little we have been coming to more areas. This is such an exciting time for us, the community and the planet.’

Oddbox works with farmers to rescue fresh, seasonal surplus produce at risk of becoming food waste.

To date, it has rescued more than six million kilograms of fruit and veg from going to waste with its delivery box scheme.

Inside the boxes, which start at £10.99, are a mix of fresh seasonal British staples and other seasonal produce ranging from imperfect and surplus produce to out of specs and trial varieties, as well as a selection of international produce that has been imported but then graded in the UK.

SEE ALSO: Tesco in Fareham joins up with Olio to stop thousands of meals going to waste

A large box includes nine varieties of seasonal and local veg and four types of fruit, as well as a sheet detailing why the items have been rescued.

Emilie and Deepak were inspired to start the business by seeing imperfect fruit and vegetables for sale at a food market in Portugal.

After researching, they were appalled to find out that 20 to 40 per cent of produce in the UK is wasted before it even leaves the farms.

Determined to battle food waste, they visited farms, talked to producers and came up with the idea for Oddbox.

Since then Oddbox has grown from just a handful of customers and suppliers and packing boxes in a small room every Saturday morning, to delivering to over 30,000 homes across London and Brighton.

Emilie said: ‘We are a unique brand because we are on a rescue mission to save the planet: we rescue veg that has been rejected based on quantity and cosmetic requirements and reduce the environmental impact of food waste.

‘Food waste is responsible for eight per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emission. We work with growers to understand what's available at that particular time and fill our boxes with fresh, delicious, seasonal fruit and veg that would have otherwise gone to waste.

‘We deliver it to people's doors in minimal packaging. We allow people to save the planet from their doorstep.’

For more go to oddbox.co.uk

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