Voedselbanken Nederland, the Food Banks in the Netherlands, launched the “Voorraadplank” a digital storage shelf system that allows Food Banks to offer their surplus food to other Food Banks.In this way, waste can be prevented and food offered can be distributed even better.
The system helps local Food Banks and regional distribution centers in the Netherlands to exchange surpluses of stock with each other. The aim is to stimulate cooperation between Food Banks and with regional distribution centers and to collectively accept and distribute more food. In practice, it appears that smaller batches are sometimes thrown away due to expired best-before dates. On the contrary, the big ones are regularly rejected because they are too large for one Food Bank. If this situation happens, a Food Bank can place the batch on the digital storage shelf and perhaps a nearby Food Bank can use it.
The “Voorraadplank” system is an addition to the existing agreements but it ensure that even less food is wasted and ends up in the plate of people who need it most.
