AN APPLE-lover who has four trees in her garden has set out to collect the crunchy, sweet fruit from across Denbighshire and make juice that will raise funds for community projects.

Heledd Iago launched Sudd, a community interest company, this summer with the aim to “lessen food waste and create a marketable local product”.

She has already been backed by funding from the Clwydian and Dee Valley AONB’s Sustainable Development Fund and has teamed up with Bryn Cocyn Organic Farm in Llannefydd where the apples will be pressed and bottled for sale in nearby shops.

Dr Iago, from Gellifor, near Ruthin, said: “Growing up and now living in the Vale of Clwyd, it is impossible not to notice the abundance of apples around the place – and then notice how many of them simply fall to the ground and go to waste or end up unused every autumn.

“I believed that we should try to make use of them in order to lessen food waste and create a marketable local product that could be sold with surplus profits used to fund local conservation and environmental projects.”

Potential recipients of the funds raised include conservation and environmental schemes.

Dr Iago added: “We are grateful for donations of apples of any kind - both eating and cooking. In fact, a blend of different apples is what produces the best flavoured juice. As part of the venture, we hope to identify the apples that we are given - although with hundreds of apple varieties available, identification is not such an easy task!

“As long as people are willing to donate their unwanted apples, we will try to collect them and find a use for them.”

For more information or to donate to Sudd, visit the project's Facebook page.