A campaign entitled ‘Paper for Food’ (Papel por Alimentos) started by Portugal’s Food Bank Network (Banco Alimentar) in December 2011 surpassed the 5,000-tonne mark of waste paper collected, which has enabled the charity to purchase a staggering amount of food products for the hungry.
The monetary value of the waste paper collected was around €500,000, and thus the Food Bank was able to purchase 203,000 litres of milk, 143,000 cans of sausages, 142,000 cans of tuna, 54,000 litres of oil and 16,000 litres of olive oil, announced the Banco Alimentar.
The campaign, developed in partnership with Quim, a waste collection and recycling company, aims to encourage the population to collect and deliver waste paper to the various Food Bank warehouses in Portugal, which will then convert the money generated into valuable food products for the many institutions helping the hungry. For each tonne of paper collected, €100 worth of food is delivered, according to the Portuguese Federation of Food Banks.
Isabel Jonet, president of the federation, said: “The success of this campaign is measured by the capacity to show that a seemingly worthless item, which often ends up in the bin, can be converted into something valuable such as food.”
The ‘Paper for Food’ campaign also aims to raise awareness among the population, including schoolchildren and public sector departments, about the importance of recycling paper and getting involved as a volunteer in the collection and delivery of the paper to the Food Bank warehouses. In the Algarve, warehouses are located in Faro (289 872 426) and Portimão (282 482 172).
|| A date for your diary
The Food Bank (Banco Alimentar) will be conducting collections at various supermarkets across Portugal from November 30 to December 1.
