AN Isle of Wight charity has won big with the People's Postcode Lottery — awarded more than one million pounds to help it launch a food challenge to supermarkets.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation received £1.25 million from the Dream Fund award, and will now launch and deliver the charity's Nature Positive Food Challenge, which aims to bring nature-positive food to supermarket shelves within two years.

The Cowes-based charity will be joining forces with the Sustainable Food Trust to launch the challenge at the start of next year.

Having written and released The Big Food Redesign: Regenerating nature with the circular economy report last year, the foundation is now working to turn its ambitions into positive working actions.

The aim is to bring together key players from across the food system, including designers, manufacturers, and big retailers, for a three-year project which will reshape how food is designed, grown, and marketed to provide delicious nutrition while allowing nature to thrive.

Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said: “This is the third time the foundation has won a People’s Postcode Lottery Dream Fund award and we are once again thrilled to be the recipients of their continued support as we work to shift the economy into one that is regenerative by design. 

"Changing our food system is one of the most powerful things we can do to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.

"With the Dream Fund award, we can put the same energy and resources into our Nature Positive Food Challenge that we were afforded previously by players of People’s Postcode Lottery to research and highlight solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, and carry on our mission to redesign the future of fashion.

"Awards such as this are invaluable to charities across the UK and secure fantastic opportunities for NGOs to collaborate and drive the positive solutions that people all over the world are calling for.”

The Dream Fund award will help ensure the Ellen MacArthur, which has global impact, can continue its work in speeding up the transition to a circular economy.