Food Bank Albania is the first Food Bank operating in Albania and the only organisation dedicated to redirecting surplus food to charities addressing poverty in the country. Food Bank Albania works with partners to ensure that the recovered food is of high quality. This food is then redistributed through a network of non-profit organisations which are directly involved in providing aid to families and people in need.

Wiener Tafel is located in an exceptional location: inside the wholesale market in Vienna. The proximity to many grocery producers and sellers facilitates the daily recovery of food, including imperfect fruit and vegetables. Thomas is sorting fruit and vegetables with odd shapes or unappealing spots but that still can be good for human consumption.

In 2021 28% of the food redistributed by the network of 9 Food Banks belonging to the Fédération Belge des Banques Alimentaires / Belgische Federatie van Voedselbanken consisted of fruit and vegetables. An important contribution to a healthy, nutritious, and balanced diet 

The core of Food Bank Bulgaria is really about logistics. One powerful means is the optimisation of warehouse infrastructure and operations, including a variety of modern and professional forklift equipment to move pallets around the facility to ensure food is not wasted and can reach those who need it.

You never know what you will find in a banana box. Like many other Food Banks, Česká Federace Potravinových Bank uses banana boxes as they are a handy size for picking into, carrying, stacking, storing at the Food Bank. Here volunteers prepare and load banana boxes full of fruit and vegetables, canned goods, meat, eggs, dairy products, milk and much more, and then redistributing them to charities.

What happens to a yoghurt close to the expiry date or a spoiled packet of ham when they are taken off the supermarket shelf? In France thanks to Banques Alimentaires, they get a second life. At dawn, more than 7,000 volunteers collect fresh products removed from the shelves but still fit for consumption: fruit and vegetables, meat products, and dairy products which are essential for a balanced diet. The food is transported to the Food Banks' warehouses, registered, and then sorted according to the strictest hygiene and safety rules. These products are immediately handed over to a network of 6,749 associations, which redistribute them the same day to 2.2 million people in need.

More and more people are seeking assistance from the network of Tafel in Germany because of the ongoing war on Ukraine and the inflation crisis. At the same time, operating costs are exploding, for instance fuelling vans and powering refrigeration. Many Food Banks are currently working at their absolute limit.

George is a 60-year-old man who devotes his time to the Food Bank Greece in Athens. He is dedicated and professional when handling food at the warehouse, so nothing is wasted. He used to work for an association that received food from the Food Bank. Then the association had to close, and he lost his job. He was hired by the Food Bank where he has been working for 20 years now.

Tibor, the head of logistics at Magyar Élelmiszerbank Egyesület, takes over rescued food from a volunteer driver at the Food Bank’s warehouse on an early spring morning. Not long before, these goods were waiting in a nearby retail store. The food surplus was sorted out the night before by the employees of the retailer, and a few hours later they are redistributed to those in need. Hundreds of similar handovers are arranged every day by Magyar Élelmiszerbank Egyesület. A daily average of 23,000 kilos of food is rescued from nearly 600 retail stores and 100 manufacturers across the country.

Giulia works at Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus and is in charge of fundraising. She likes to fundraise but also to save good food from becoming food waste. In May she attended Cibus in Parma, the most important fair dedicated to the Italian agri-food sector, where she saved from waste a huge amount of buffalo mozzarella, cream, litres of milk, wheels of cheese, and much more good food!

A daily fight against food waste. Every day, volunteers of Maisto Bankas work in small or large warehouses to build a bridge between those food business operators who have surplus food and those charities who are in need of food. Volunteers with trucks go to many stores every day, where they pick up food products that are no longer suitable for sale but and are still good for consumption. Then volunteers sort this food and give it to charities helping people in need.

This is not (only) a banana box: Siluan, Cristina and Sergiu from Banca de Alimente Moldova are recovering surplus food from a supermarket in Chișinău. Every year many empty banana boxes are donated to Food Banks to reuse, a good example of circular economy. Banana boxes are used by Food Banks as they are easy to carry, of a regular size, and stack easily for storage.

In North Macedonia, Banka Za Hrana Makedonija is making an incredible effort to save surplus food and help the most deprived in the country.

In Norway the need for food among disadvantaged people is increasing sharply due to rising food prices and higher cost of living. For this reason, Matsentralen Norge invites the entire food supply chain to a concerted effort to save and donate more surplus food.

The 32 Food Banks belonging to the Federacja Polskich Banków Żywności keep track of food going in and out of the warehouse. To ensure that food safety and quality is not compromised, good traceability practices are essential to guarantee the quality of food supplies to charities helping those in need.

Federação Portuguesa dos Bancos Alimentares knows the value of fresh fruit and vegetables. When farmers harvest their crops, a majority can be sold to grocers or wholesale markets but there is usually a portion that is considered unsellable. These fruit and vegetables are perfectly edible and nutritious but either size, shape, or colouring would make them less likely to be purchased by a customer. Thanks to Food Banks they are prevented from being sent to the landfill and can go instead into the hands of charities that need them!

Food Banks collaborate with and provide food to a variety of non-profit organisations including food pantries, shelters for homeless people, soup kitchens, and associations dealing with drug and alcohol addictions. Every Thursday in Bucharest two volunteers from a local organisation that supports students with addictions help at the warehouse of Banca pentru Alimente. A simple activity to turn the hopeless into givers of hope.

Partage recovers and sorts unsold food from Geneva’s grocery stores and delivers it for free to associations and social services that help feeding people in need in Geneva. In its mission to fight against food waste, Partage saved 320,000 kilos of unsold food in 2020.

The activity of the Kyiv City Charity Foundation “Food Bank” continues despite the challenges due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine thanks to a team of volunteers who proudly want to help.