Raben Group is the strategic partner of Food Banks

Sustainable approach to food, both in production and consumption, is becoming an increasingly pressing need. Members of the Consumer Goods Forum have declared that by 2025 they will have decreased the quantity of food wastage by 50%, the value of which is estimated at USD 750 billion. According to the CGF, as much as 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally every year which causes the emissions of 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  Social expectations and trends are also followed by the legislators of individual EU Member States. Since May 2015 France has prohibited supermarkets to destroy unsold food. Shops with the area exceeding 400 m² will have to sign agreements with charity organisations which will be receive the food. Penalties reach 75 thousand EUR fine or 2-year imprisonment.    For two years Poland has had the Sustainable Production and Consumption Group working with the Ministry of the Economy which associates entities committed to, among others, prevention of food wastage. Raben Group is one of them, being a representative of the logistics sector. Among the associates there are also representatives of the Polish Federation of Food Banks. Meetings and debates in the Ministry of the Economy have resulted in cooperation between Raben Group and the Polish Federation of Food Banks with regards to free transport of food with short best-before dates, which will then be offered to the people in need."We assume that by the end of the year we will have transported approx. 16,000 pallets of food with short BB dates. All Raben Group companies in Poland have been engaged in the cooperation since the products transported for food banks require different transport conditions. For instance, Fresh Logistics will be transporting goods which require temperature from 0 to 6 degrees Celsius. The next step of the initiative will be the action targeting Raben Group Customers to raise their awareness of the possibility to donate goods which we will transport free of charge in the course of our cooperation with Food Banks.  Perhaps the Polish Parliament will soon draft a similar Bill which was adopted in France. If that happens, we will be ready to serve our Customers in this area. In this way the cooperation with Food Banks is building our competitive advantage. We are helping Food Banks to save food against wastage using our competencies - planning the optimal supply chain and the high-quality transport services" - comments Marta Szymborska, CSR Leader in Raben Group. "Thanks to the Raben Group's initiative, Food Banks will be able to save thousand tons of food every year and reach a bigger number of people in need with food aid. Help offered by Raben Group is professional systemic support for Food Banks. Wasting food when almost 3 million people in Poland live in extreme poverty is a paradox which Food Banks are attempting to solve.  Cooperation between Raben Group and Food Banks will definitely bring about a social change in Poland - decrease of quantities of wasted food and improvement of the situation of people living in poverty" - summarizes Marek Borkowski, President of the Federation of Polish Food Banks.