A student from Sidmouth hopes to combat food waste by running run a half-marathon fuelled only by what he can scavenge from supermarket bins.

Sidmouth Herald: Jack Dicks, who ‘fell in love’ with combating food wastage, is set to run a half marathon fuelled by it to raise money for charity.Jack Dicks, who ‘fell in love’ with combating food wastage, is set to run a half marathon fuelled by it to raise money for charity. (Image: Archant)

Jack Dicks, 21, of Salcombe Hill, will spend the next seven weeks living off items deemed ‘unfit for human consumption’ to show they can actually be nutritious.

“We must stop living by best-before dates,” says Jack.

The marine biology student at Southampton University hopes to raise £500 for Curb, a cause in Hampshire which looks to prevent food wastage, and is halfway to his target. He will take on the Southampton half-marathon in April, in what he describes a a ‘race for waste’.

Jack says on his JustGiving page: “Forty per cent of supermarket food is wasted today. This is unnecessary and ridiculous when there are global hunger problems. The excess of food we have is disgraceful and it must be distributed to stop it going to waste.

“We try to stop food being taken to landfill via interceptions and redistribution to feed not just the most vulnerable members of society, but everyone on a pay as you feel basis. Food should be accessible, not exclusive.

“I will be running the Southampton half-marathon fuelled by nothing but food waste to prove that this food deemed ‘unfit for human consumption’ is actually nutritious and that we must stop living by best-before dates.”

Jack told the Herald: “We can tell if food is off. We need to start living by our senses, not sell-by dates.

“I am quite a good runner, but I have never done it on food waste before.

“I am saving a lot of money. I am quite a food snob, but it’s not any issue for me at all because the food is good quality.”

Jack, who runs five miles three times a week, added: “We go late out at night, to avoid confrontation, into supermarket bins.

“We are not there to cause trouble, we are there just to save food from going to landfill.

“I thought it was really good that people were doing something really active against food waste.”

To donate to Jack’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/race-against-waste