East London Brewery produces beer from old bread

Food waste charity founder creates beer from unwanted bread

An east London brewery has developed a method for turning old bread into beer, after the beverage’s founder decided he wanted to do his little bit to tackle the issue of global food waste.

Recent figures suggest that the UK wastes 15 million tonnes of food every year; baked goods, and bread especially, have been branded the worst offenders. Tristram Stuart, founder of food waste charity ‘Feedback’, was at the Brussels Beer Project when he first had the inspiration of giving unwanted bread a new lease of life.

An estimated 24 million slices of bread are wasted each year by British households; a spokesperson from Feedback claimed that the unwanted baked produce which is thrown away each year in the UK, could feed 26 million people across the world who are suffering from a severe lack of food.

Now, Tristram Stuart and his team have found a ingenious way of saving some of this bread from the bin and turning it into something delicious. Each bottle of the new, appropriately named, Toast Ale contains one slice of old bread, taken from bakeries, sandwich shops, and delis.

This waste bread is blended into crumbs and then brewed with hops, malted barley and yeast. It goes through the necessary fermentation process until its ready, and then, there it is: a refreshing bottle of environmentally friendly beer.

Tristram Stuart commented: “We hope to put ourselves out of business. The day there’s no waste bread is the day Toast Ale can no longer exist.” The beer reaches shelves on January 28 and is to cost £3 per bottle.

To find out more about our waste management services, please follow this link: https://biggreen.co.uk