🥣”Don’t waste food! Share it”

We are implementing the project “Don’t waste food. Share it!” in cooperation with the SOS Food Bank in Warsaw. This is an initiative aimed at preventing food waste at Warsaw markets (in line with our initiative “Less waste, more life”). Every week we visit two markets – Wolumen and Hala Mirowska, where vendors can donate food that will not be suitable for sale after the weekend, but is fully suitable at the time of collection.

The aim of this project is to reduce the amount of food thrown away and to involve the local community, especially young people, in volunteering to minimize waste. School volunteering plays a key role in implementing this initiative, giving young people the opportunity to actively participate in social and environmental activities. In this way, young people are involved in two important goals: saving food from waste and helping people in difficult life situations, such as single mothers, caregivers and families in need. By participating in volunteering, young people gain valuable experience, learn responsibility, teamwork and empathy. At the same time, they become aware of the scale of food waste, which shapes their pro-environmental attitudes. Volunteers participate in the collection and sorting of surplus food, which can effectively prevent waste of resources and spread awareness of the need to help others.

Every year, a huge amount of food is wasted in Poland that could reach people in difficult life situations. Thanks to the project “Don’t waste food! Share it!”, surplus food is used effectively instead of ending up in the trash. Hundreds of tons of food that would otherwise be thrown away are donated to those in need and processed into canned food.

Our many years of experience show that preventing food waste is of great importance for the local community. It not only supports people in financial difficulties by providing them with basic food products, but also contributes to building a more sustainable food economy. By reducing waste, the project reduces the pressure on the environment, which shows that caring for resources has both an ecological and socio-economic dimension. In 2023, we were also partners of the SOS Food Bank in Warsaw, working at the two largest marketplaces of the project: Hala Mirowska and Wolumen.

As part of the entire project, from May to December, traders donated more than 28 tons of food, mainly vegetables and fruits, that could have become waste. The project involved 140 volunteers, of which 67 helped at our Wolumeni, thanks to the support of school volunteering from school No. 355 in Warsaw.