Fruit and vegetable rescuers wanted in Venlo

Fruit and vegetables are regularly thrown away because shape, size or color do not meet buyers' criteria. This is a waste of food and bad for the environment. The Fruit & Vegetable Brigade rescues these fruits and vegetables and delivers them to the Dutch food banks. The brigade will open a new branch at Fresh Park Venlo and is still looking for help.

Wasting food

Voedselbanken Nederland faces the challenge of putting together the more than 35,000 food packages that are distributed weekly to clients as healthy and varied as possible. In Westland, therefore, a collaboration with the fruit and vegetable sector was started two years ago. Here, the Groente & Fruit Brigade ensures that certain batches of fruit and vegetables that companies cannot sell, but which are suitable for human consumption, end up in the food bank's parcels.

The brigade collects, sorts and distributes the fruit and vegetables. And with success: the organization has now saved more than 1.5 million kilos of fruit and vegetables. This is an important contribution to combating food waste and protecting the environment. After all, when these products are thrown away, we not only waste food, we also waste land, water, energy and CO2.

Fresh Park Venlo

Now it is time for further expansion. In the second fresh region of the Netherlands, Venlo and its surroundings, the brigade is working on realizing a new branch. The coronavirus hindered the initial plans for setting up the location, but the organization persevered. Themes such as food waste, the rise of food bank clients and making good, healthy food accessible to all have never been more relevant. Despite the fact that the economic impact of this crisis is still far from being visible or over, the initiative continues. The location at Fresh Park Venlo is ready and the first donors of fruit and vegetables are on board.

Fruit and vegetable donors wanted

To make the new location a success, the brigade is looking for volunteers. The organization is looking for volunteers who can lead, acquisitionists, PR and HR volunteers and administrative assistants, among others. Mary van Hoek-Hendriks - project manager location Venlo: "Are you that fruit and vegetable rescuer? Do you, like us, think it is very important that good food is available to everyone? Are you also enthusiastic about working in a social and impactful organization? Then apply for one of our vacancies. Then together we can realize our branch in Venlo in the short term!" All vacancies can be found at www.groentefruitbrigade.nl/vacatures