- Title: Danish 'food oasis' saves 12 tonnes of food a day from landfill
- Date: 18th October 2019
- Summary: KORSOR, DENMARK (RECENT - OCTOBER 5, 2019) (REUTERS) RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, AND HIS FATHER BENJAMIN ERICHSEN, 45, ENTERING SUPERMARKET RASMUS AND BENJAMIN ERICHSEN GREETED BY STAFF INSIDE SUPERMARKET PRODUCE ON SHELVES SUPERMARKET STAFF PULLING PRODUCE ON TROLLEY RASMUS ERICHSEN AND VOLUNTEER SOCIAL WORKER, MIE SORENSEN, LOADING VAN WITH PRODUCE RASMUS ERICHSEN CLOSING DOOR, VAN WITH TEXT (Danish) "Helping Stop Waste Locally" (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: (Reporter asking: What was the motivation behind starting it?) "It was the big climate issue and there is a lot of people who have a low income so it was to do something about the climate and for the people." VARIOUS OF BENJAMIN ERICHSEN DRIVING TO NEXT SUPERMARKET SUPERMARKET EMPLOYEE PUTTING CRATES OF FOOD ON TROLLEY ERICHSEN PUSHING TROLLEY IN WAREHOUSE VARIOUS OF ERICHSEN LOADING CRATES INTO VAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: "It began with a Facebook group in my own city and our ambition was 500 members in only this one group and now we have more than 60,000 members on Facebook and Facebook groups in 109 cities." RASMUS AND BENJAMIN ERICHSEN WALKING THROUGH ANOTHER SUPERMARKET ERICHSENS OPENING DOOR TO WAREHOUSE BREAD SECTION RASMUS AND BENJAMIN ERICHSEN WHEELING OUT TROLLEY RASMUS AND BENJAMIN ERICHSEN LOADING PRODUCE INTO VAN BENJAMIN ERICHSEN GETTING INTO VAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: "The hardest thing is to get the time because I do it for free so I need to have a job also." VOLUNTEERS WORKING IN FOOD OASIS CENTRE VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEER EMPTYING A BAG OF POTATOES IN CRATE BREAD LOAVES IN TABLE RASMUS ERICHSEN CARRYING BOXES (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: "We are in what we call a Food Oasis, it's like a food shop but everything is free and there come a lot of people and pick up the food and we have the food from the supermarkets and there's a lot of volunteers that register the food." VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS REGISTERING FOOD VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEER PUTTING BREAD IN BASKETS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SEATED OUTSIDE FOOD OASIS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PICKING UP FOOD VOLUNTEER HANDING OUT BREAD ERICHSEN IN FOOD OASIS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: "We're saving twelve tonnes of food every day, so in a year we save about 4,500-tonnes of food." WOMAN PUTTING VEGETABLES IN HER BASKET VOLUNTEER TAKING GROCERIES OUT OF FRIDGE AND GIVING THEM TO WOMAN VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN FOOD OASIS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF "STOP WASTE LOCALLY", RASMUS ERICHSEN, 20, SAYING: "(Reporter asking: "And what is the goal for you right now?" "The goal is we have these food shops in every city in Denmark and maybe in other countries also." ROAD SEEN THROUGH VAN'S WINDOW AS ERICHSEN'S DOING HOME DELIVERIES RASMUS ERICHSEN CARRYING CRATE SORENSEN TAKING BOX WITH GROCERIES TO KITCHEN SORENSEN PUTTING GROCERIES IN FRIDGE RASMUS AND BENJAMIN ERICHSEN TALKING TO HOME OWNER ERICHSENS LEAVE HOUSE
- Embargoed: 1st November 2019 12:18
- Keywords: United Nations World Food Day food waste food poverty food waste ending up in landfill
- Location: KORSOR, DENMARK / RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
- City: KORSOR, DENMARK / RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
- Country: Denmark
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1MKUAJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Rich nations waste $750 billion of food each year, double the amount needed to end global hunger, the United Nations said this week as World Food Day on Wednesday (October 16) looked to highlight the shocking amount of food that is wasted.
But around the world concerned citizens are taking it into their own hands to stop perfectly edible food from ending up in the bin.
Three years ago, then only 17-year-old Rasmus Erichsen started what is now Denmark's largest food waste organisation in an attempt to fight climate change and food poverty sharing leftover food through food shops and social media.
Today, the organisation called 'Stop Waste Locally' saves around 12 tonnes of food from ending up in bins every day and is run by volunteers in over one hundred Danish cities. All cities have its own Facebook group where moderators organise the sharing of leftover groceries and use them for joint dinners.
Besides the local social media groups, Stop Waste Locally operates nine 'food oases' where leftover food is gathered from local supermarkets most days of the week and distributed to customers for free. The customers are usually from poor families or homeless people and the organisation also provides support from social workers at the oases.
The organisation is entirely voluntary and has created partnerships with a long list of supermarkets, truck companies and shops.
Now aged 20, Erichsen runs the organisation besides his full-time job as a fast food restaurant manager and is paying all expenses out of his own pocket. The organisation is strongly dependent on support from local communities and are looking to get donations from private funds.
Estimates made by the United Nations show that nearly one third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted amounting up to as much as 1.3 billion tonnes a year.
Food waste also squanders land and water used to produce it, and also releases methane, a greenhouse gas, when left to rot.
(Production: Andreas Mortensen, Ilze Filks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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