In 2015 Joburg local Hanneke van Linge “inherited” a soup kitchen because she couldn’t say no, she says. Over the years as people started donating perishable foods to her, she realised she needed to close the loop of food becoming rotten and ending up in landfills and getting produce and food to the hundreds of thousands of people who go hungry every day. 

In 2017 she lost her fulltime work. It marked a turning point that steered her to food recovery and co-ordinating the distribution of these food items to charities and soup kitchens in need. With this, Nosh Food Rescue, a non-profit and public benefit organisation, was born. 

At the start of Covid-19 lockdown in early 2020, it became starkly clear how quickly hunger can strike the most vulnerable. Nosh became part of a network of organisations that kept meals prepared for thousands left with no access to a meal a day. Since then they’ve been able to deliver 10.2 meals to hungry people and saved over 2600 tonnes of food from ending up in landfills. 

What was the problem?

Urban hunger is a reality and is a scourge affecting many who fall through the cracks as government support for social services dwindles. 

At the same time food waste in South Africa is growing because of inefficient food chain management and consumer habits that favour convenience and wastefulness over mindful consumption. A CSIR study showed that an estimated “10.3 million tonnes per year of edible food, earmarked for human consumption in South Africa, does not reach the human stomach. This is equivalent to 34% of local food production”. 

Food from the city’s fruit and vegetable markets, retailers and restaurants is being thrown out because there aren’t networks and pathways to get these items to charities, shelters and feeding schemes, for the produce to be turned into good meals on time.   

How are they solving it?

Van Linge started by collecting food and distributing the items largely as a one-woman operation, focused on the greater Joburg area. But she soon realised that food rescue is about co-ordination, good logistics, strong networks and a dedicated and informed volunteer base.

Key to making food rescue work is connecting the right donors with the right beneficiaries. For instance if a dairy has 300 litres of surplus milk Van Linge has to link the donor with a charity located relatively close by and one that has access to buckets, transportation and refrigeration. 

She is working on developing an app to make this coordination between donors and beneficiaries more seamless. In addition to using technology better, Nosh Food Rescue has built good working relationships and has focused on education. This means being able to rely on a varied network who work towards the same goals and encouraging the general public to take greater responsibility. Their programmes include ways to buy more wisely and managing pantry cupboards efficiently. They also encourage volunteers to get involved in a variety of ways. This can be to sort foods, help prepare meals, or to help serve meals. There are back-end volunteers who can help Nosh boost much needed fund-raising, social media awareness and give tech support. 

“Nosh is at a point where we know to accommodate the growing need we need to grow, and grow smarter, so we need volunteers who can walk the distance with us,” says Van Linge. 

What makes it work?

Recognising restraints and sticking to optimisation – Van Linge stresses that they are the conduit between donors and beneficiaries and their strength is logistics and co-ordination. They are not the people who are able to provide food parcels or meals. She says being clear about their purpose and roles helps to manage expectations, which helps fight burnout for NPOs and volunteers. 

Building smarter with technology – In the pipelines is the development of an app that will connect those with surplus food with those who need it, without the direct involvement of Nosh Food Rescue.

Broadening networks – Nosh Food Rescue keeps enlarging and managing its networks. They include retailers and the agents at the city’s fruit and veg market to restaurants, farmers and producers. There are also culinary schools and organisations that help with food prep and distribution. 

Education and social media presence – Nosh Food Rescue has focused on building awareness about food waste, about ways to save food from landfills and given people various avenues to become volunteers.

Understanding that there is no perfect solution – Van Linge says that as an NPO they battle every day with being short on funding, resources and helping hands. It makes the long-term sustainability of the organisation precarious, she admits. But at the same time, she says there isn’t the luxury of stopping. She adds: “10.2 million meals delivered since Covid-19 lockdown – it is not enough, but it’s not nothing.”

Acknowledgements

Author: FixLocal Reporter

Additional articles/sources: https://noshfoodrescue.co.za/about-nosh/#

Photograph: Nosh Food Rescue