FEBA has signed a five-year partnership agreement with IFCO, the world’s leading provider of Reusable Packaging Containers (RPCs).
The Agreement entails 20 FEBA members in the countries where IFCO is located, which can benefit from the donation of 200,000 RPCs. It also includes training and consultancy in logistics provided by IFCO, and other joint initiatives such as online fundraising campaigns, raising awareness events, and communication activities.
External scientific studies* demonstrate that IFCO´s reusable packaging reduces the negative environmental impacts associated with single-use packaging. Specifically, RPCs reduce the amount of waste, carbon emissions, and water consumption when compared to single-use packaging. Furthermore, other scientific studies have also proven that RPCs help reducing food waste in the fresh supply chain, by providing better protection and ventilation to fresh produce. Therefore, IFCO´s priority is to support FEBA and its members in their mission to reduce food waste and help those in need.
With the participation of IFCO, in June, FEBA organised an online meeting to present the objectives and expectations of this new partnership to its members.
The session was opened by Secretary General Angela Frigo, who emphasised the importante of this new partnership for the benefit of FEBA Members and the role played by FEBA staff, in particular Valentina D´Arrigo and Filippo Cantù Rajnoldi, Partnerships & Capacity Building Managers, who worked on creating this collaboration. The key objective of this partnership is to share the mutual goal of preventing food waste while contributing to the reduction of food insecurity. IFCO will provide FEBA members with Reusable Packaging Containers (RPCs) free of charge. RPCs not only help improve operations but also better protect the products and extend their shelf life of the food managed by FEBA Members.
The floor was then given to Iñigo Canalejo Lasarte, Vice President, Environment Social and Governance (ESG) at IFCO to explain in more detail the partnership with IFCO. IFCO is the global leader in providing reusable packaging and has a strong presence in Europe, where it has already been collaborating with most Food Banks for many years. He further elaborated on the different types of RPCs, which can vary in size and design according to the food that is being transported. He also touched upon the company’s sustainable business model which is based on the principles of the circular economy with their customers sharing and reusing IFCO RPCs. The environmental benefits of IFCO´s RPCs are supported by the well-established Waste Hierarchy – where reuse always precedes recycling – and have been scientifically proven by third-party Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies.
The meeting was instrumental in onboarding FEBA members and strengthening their collaboration with IFCO. Now, FEBA Members can connect with IFCO national coordinators to request the RPCS, which will be delivered at their Food Bank warehouse, to act as a concrete lever for food waste prevention and food insecurity reduction.
* Source of Environmental Data: Comparative life-cycle assessment of reusable plastic containers, Franklin Associates, 2017; Fraunhofer IBP study, Carbon Footprint of Food packaging, commissioned by Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (SIM), Feb 2018
Source of Food Savings Data: University of Bonn and the Fraunhofer Institute Study conducted in 2013 complemented by California Polytechnic State University Study from 2015.
