Restos. du Coeur
It seems ludicrous to penalise people who fish perfectly edible food out of the likes of Iceland’s bins. Surely the main problem is that the supermarkets have so much waste in the first place.
When I lived in Bordeaux a number of years ago, I worked with a charity known as Les Restos du Coeur (literally translated as Restaurants of the heart), an organisation originally set up by the actor and comedian Coluche in the 80’s to help feed the homeless.
They use empty restaurant premises and cook and serve food to the homeless; perfectly edible food from supermarkets which would otherwise have been thrown away because it was a couple of days before the sell-by date.
We picked up the food from the supermarkets and delivered it to the restaurants where we cooked it. The supermarket got free publicity (since it would otherwise have thrown away the food) and the homeless got fed. It’s called a win-win situation.
The charity has been a huge success. Consider this:
Restos du Coeur operates through a national organization and 119 departmental organizations throughout France. These groups coordinate activities and operate 2,333 welcome centers, serving 1.3 million people in 2022-2023. The organization has 73,000 regular volunteers and 25,000 occasional volunteers, according to recent data.
National Structure: There is one national organization and 119 smaller, regional groups.
Locations: The 119 departmental organizations manage activities in numerous locations, with the most recent data showing 2,333 welcome centers, including 58 mobile centers.
Volunteers: The organization relies on a large volunteer base, with 73,000 regular and 25,000 occasional volunteers for the 2022-2023 year.
Perhaps we should set up a similar institution in the Uk instead of prosecuting people for ‘stealing’ food that should never have been dumped in the first place.
photo: Als33120
