Volunteers for a food project in Spain are picking the unwanted fruit and vegetables left after harvest and getting them to people in need.
Espigoladors, based in Barcelona, is working with farmers to see that produce they reject can be distributed to the vulnerable and unemployed.
Many items are left in the ground because they are the wrong shape, or they are not yet ripe or because sales have fallen. Farmers say they would often leave these products to rot because of the hours it would take to harvest them and the costs involved.
Espigoladors is able to send volunteers, often at short notice, to do the work instead. They are often people who are out of work and recruited through social services. They may take home what they like, with the bulk going to community kitchens.
Some 30 producers and distributors have signed up to the Espigoladors project
“They call with as little as 24 hours’ notice when they have leftovers to be harvested. These donations usually start at about 200kg,” says Mireia Barba, one of the three co-founders.
In its first year, she said it recovered about 70,000kg of produce.
The group wants to build a better understanding between producers and distributors who cite cost barriers to donating food and the many families who are still suffering in the grip of the economic crisis.
The organisation also uses its rejects to make soups, juices and jam which are sold under the name Es Im-perfect. The funds go to underpin transportation and other running costs.
So far the project works around Barcelona, but plans to extend its efforts to other parts of Catalonia, with the hope the idea will go nationwide to counter the enormous amount of food which goes to waste.
