Items of food worth almost £9,000 that were destined for landfill have been rescued by Walsall's biggest social landlord and shared between hundreds of its customers.

Walsall Housing Group (whg) contacted customers to ask if they would like to accept a seasonal selection of food at Christmas.

whg colleagues volunteered their time to work with charity His Church to make up 400 festive food parcels, weighing a total of eight-and-a-half tonnes, in time for Christmas.

The packages included damson jam, marmalade, rice pudding, flapjacks, brownies, pasta sauce and pasta, peas and baked beans. The items would otherwise have gone to landfill sites for a number of reasons such as having a short best before date or having been packaged wrongly.

A further 100 boxes, plus additional food, were sent out to organisations working with the homeless including Highs 'n Lows, The Glebe Centre, Transition and Learning Care team, Green Lane Baptist Church and Dolphin House Homeless project.

Paul Mason, whg's Regeneration Programme Manager, organised the goodwill gesture. He said: "It has been very well received. I've had quite a few calls and letters of thanks, so it has been worthwhile. The project has helped address issues of financial inclusion, at a time when many people are feeling financial pressure. It was targeted to focus on customers who would benefit most."

The project has also had environmental benefits and will have reduced the amount of food going unnecessarily to landfill.

Lincolnshire-based His Church works with a number of food banks around the country and redistributes tinned goods on their way to landfill sites, redirecting them to communities in need.  The project was also supported by Links to Work.