Tartu food-sharing group rejects link between rescued food and poverty

Tartu Food Sharers spokesperson Kerly Ilves told ERR’s Vikerraadio that anyone can leave food in or take food from the group’s food-sharing cabinets. She said the group’s aim is to save food that would otherwise go to waste and ensure people do not associate food rescue with poverty.

Ilves said she became familiar with the food-sharing movement while living in Berlin, where she also used it. She launched the Tartu Food Sharing Facebook page on August 21. It now has nearly 10,000 followers and 40 volunteers.

She first contacted the Rimi store chain about rescuing food, but the effort was unsuccessful. A year and a half later, she reached an agreement with the Tartu Consumer Cooperative, or Coop, allowing the idea to take root in Tartu.

“For stores, food rescue is a nuisance. Other store chains have no interest,” Ilves said.

Food is collected after stores close and distributed in the evening, before midnight. Ilves said Tartu’s small size and relatively fast transport make this possible.

The group tells people that they consume the food at their own risk. Ilves said the food is loaded into cars quickly and distributed immediately.

Another aim is to encourage people to consider how much food they waste in their own homes and why. Tartu has five public food-sharing cabinets where people can leave food they do not want or take food they need.

“For example, you bought biscuits you did not like. You can close the packet, write that you did not like them, but someone else might, and take them to a food-sharing cabinet,” Ilves said.

The cabinets are emptied within seconds, she said. The group does not distinguish between the people who take the food, because its goal is to save food that would otherwise be wasted.

“We want people not to associate food rescue and sharing with needing it, but with it being a normal part of society,” Ilves said. “The food there is for everyone.”