2024-04-08 19:32:21
Earlier, “Maisto bankas” communicated that the restaurant that opened its doors in the summer is a concept that has no alternatives, not only in Lithuania, but also in all of Europe.
“The concept of a food drop-off store for people living in a difficult situation is widespread in the USA and Australia, and several such places operate in Europe as well. It is true that the majority of the above-mentioned food stores are not saved from being thrown away, but purposefully bought by people or businesses. In addition, a nominal fee must be paid for the food received. And here at our food store, the needy will receive food completely free of charge. We have not seen similar examples in the whole of Europe,” said Simonas Gurevičius, head of Maisto bankas, last year.
Today, M. Petronytė, the communication manager of “Maisto bankas” tells the “Sustainable Lietuva” initiative that the vision of the food store has been fully fulfilled. Currently, more than 1,000 residents of the city or district of Vilnius come to pick up food saved from waste per week, and due to the increased demand, drop-off points in other Lithuanian cities were opened earlier than planned.
“We felt the problem last year, when more and more new people who had never asked for help from “Maisto bankas” began to knock on our doors. This motivated us to speed up the development of dealerships in Lithuania, so we opened 40 dealerships at an incredible speed – in almost half a year. They currently operate in Alytus, Elektrėnai, Širvinti, Trakai, Ukmerge, Varėna, Šalčininkai, Jonava, Jurbarka, Kaišiadorys, Kalvarija, Kazlų Rūda, Lazdijai, Marijampole, Raseiniai, Shakiai, Vilkavišky, Kretinga, Palanga, Plungė, Šilute, Taurage, Telšiai , Anykščiai, Biržai, Ignalina, Kėdainiai, Kupiški, Pasvaly, Visaginė, Utena, Zarasai, Akmenė, Kelme, Radviliški, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Klaipėda, Vilnius, Šiauliai,” says M. Petronytė.
The lack of meat and dairy products is due to important changes
“Maisto bankas” does not single out a single city in Lithuania where the need for food is lower. Only the choice of different food products is monitored, the interviewer assures.
“Many, as soon as they enter the store, ask if they still have milk and meat products. We notice that people in larger cities want more vegetables, willingly take canned food prepared in our food processing kitchen – soups, jams. In smaller cities, next to meat and milk, we notice the need for bread and long-life food products. People there make a little bit of canned goods themselves, if they have at least a small piece of land where they can grow vegetables,” she says.
According to the interlocutors of the “Sustainable Lietuva” initiative, donation coordinators often share stories of children or seniors. Little ones are happy to see chocolate on the shelf, sometimes there are also their favorite potato chips. Seniors sometimes ask if there are softer buns that they can enjoy with tea or they tend to ask for bread from one of the producers. Volunteers also notice that almost every day there are people who say that they have never tasted one or another food product in the store.
“For example, broccoli is hard to recognize for some of those who come to the grocery store. In this case, it is necessary to explain and advise what could be made. Sometimes you have to defend blue cheese by explaining that it is really edible and is considered a luxury item by many,” notes the organization’s communications manager.
“Maisto bankas” continues to operate in cooperation with merchants, manufacturers, and farmers. In the store, the largest part of the food consists of unsold products collected from merchants. Most often, these are food products that are valid for the last day. It is true that last autumn the situation got a bit more difficult – there were changes.
“Unfortunately, the traders who have been giving out food products valid for the last day in the morning until now have decided to sell them until the last minute of the food’s expiration date since November. This also affected our submissions. People’s favorite and hard-to-afford meat and dairy products are practically gone in the refrigerators. This is a disappointing decision, not only from the point of view of those in need, but also from the point of view of food waste – products that are not sold at the last minute of their expiration date end up not on people’s tables, but in a disposal company. This means that all the land resources used for the production and cultivation of that food were used up for nothing,” the interviewee regrets.
A large part of the population still wastes food
The interviewer says that there is very little information about the amount of wasted food in Lithuania. One of the most important studies on this topic was carried out a few years ago by order of the Ministry of Agriculture. It turned out that 383.8 thousand tons of waste is emitted in Lithuania in all sectors per year. tons of food. This means that one person receives 140 kilograms per year. At the moment, laws are making their way through the Seimas, recommending that merchants publish the amounts of food thrown away, recycled, and handed over to charitable organizations in their activity reports. What form all this will take, who will ensure monitoring, still remains unclear.
At the end of last year, the partners of “Maisto bankas” also conducted a survey, during which it became clear that a large part of the population still does not understand the impact of food waste on the environment, as well as the related financial losses. According to M. Petronytė, it is very important to educate the public on this topic.
“Recently, we created a website specifically for this purpose, where we put basic tips to help fight food waste at home. At first it seemed that the tips were very simple, clear and well-known, but the site got a huge number of visitors,” says the interviewer.
She hopes that in the future, consumers will be able to more closely monitor the food waste policy of one or another of their favorite producers and traders. The representative of “Maisto bankas” also adds that anyone who has the opportunity can contribute to helping the poor.
The news about the opened storehouse spread throughout Europe
After opening the first store, the news quickly spread not only in Lithuania, but also in Europe. According to M. Petronytė, representatives of the Ministry of Social Security of Estonia recently visited the orphanage, and they found this model of support for the poor to be innovative and meaningful.
“At the end of January, a group of students of the Erasmus plus program from Turkey and Greece visited here, they were interested in ways of fighting food waste in Lithuania. Small business initiatives related to stopping food waste from Greece and Spain were also interested in the idea we implemented. Well, in September of this year, we are expecting a large delegation from all European food banks. The Federation of European Food Banks is organizing its members’ congress in Lithuania so that representatives of other countries have the opportunity to learn good examples from the activities of the “Food Bank” in Lithuania,” says the interviewee.
ŽŪM: 1000 tons of human food is expected to be saved in Lithuania this year
One of the 17 sustainable development goals, which in 2015 presented by the United Nations – “Responsible consumption and production”. It states that by 2030 we need to halve food waste per capita at the catering, retail and household levels and reduce food loss in food production and supply chains. The EU and EU member countries are committed to achieving this goal, so the prevention of food waste becomes one of the priorities on the political agenda.
The Ministry of Agriculture (ŽŪM) informs the “Sustainable Lithuania” initiative that it contributes to the solution of the problem and from 2022. providing financial support to charitable organizations for handling food collected from food processing entities (primary production and food industry) in accordance with the rules for providing support for food donated to charity.
The amount of support reaches up to 0.5 euros per kilogram of food products collected from primary production and food industry entities and later donated to charity. According to representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2023 for the allocated 400 thousand 800 tons of human food was saved. in 2024 500 thousand is allocated for this. euros, it is expected to save 1000 tons of human food.
ŽűM specialists say that they also contribute to education on food waste issues.
“In the information published on our website, farmers and small producers can find answers to whom they can donate and what financial incentives are available,” representatives say.
According to ŽŪM, published scientific works can also be found on their website, based on the results of their research, other measures are currently being developed to reduce food losses and waste in production and the food industry.
2024-04-08 19:32:21