• Tons of slightly damaged fruit and vegetables were thrown away every year at the Arnavaux national interest market in Marseille, for want of finding buyers.

  • An association established in the very enclosure of this Phocaean Rungis decided to collect them for cooking.

  • Soups and compotes produced by people excluded from employment are redistributed to the most vulnerable through the Food Bank.

Until now, it only took a small scratch on an orange peel, a wilting of the skin of a tomato or a small germ on a potato for these fruit vegetables, sold at the Arnavaux market, a sort of Marseille Rungis, end up directly in the trash. But a few months ago, an association set up a very stupid concept, and yet unique in France in a wholesale market. Since last December, the Fruits et Légumes Solidarité association has in fact been collecting their unsold, and hitherto wasted, merchandise directly from fruit and vegetable wholesalers for cooking.

“Every day, at the Arnavaux national interest market, there are hundreds of fruit and vegetables that are thrown away,” notes Dro Kilndjian, the operations manager of this association.

These are indeed perishable products that have a shorter shelf life.

The objective of our initiative is to give them a longer lifespan ”.

Donors who are encouraged to participate, thanks in particular to an attractive tax advantage.

Soups and compotes

Juicer, potato peeler, XXL casseroles.

In the 400 m² room that the association has invested, in the very enclosure of the Arnavaux market, a multitude of strange and brand new machines are at work.

All these foodstuffs are collected for a very specific purpose: to transform them into soup, compotes and other juices which will then be redistributed to the most vulnerable, through the Food Bank.

“Over the years, the Food Bank has found that the share of fruit and vegetables in the diet of the most vulnerable people is very low,” says Dro Kilndjian.

However, this is not without consequences, since it generates deficiencies and diseases such as diabetes or obesity.

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Objective: one thousand tons per year

Concretely, the local Arnavaux regularly distributes its processed products to the Bouches-du-Rhône Food Bank, which then takes care of dispatching them among its 185 beneficiary associations, such as the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. “Our products are thus added to baskets, or directly used in the distribution of cooked meals,” says Dro Kilndjian. Ultimately, the structure also hopes to be able to diversify the means of distributing products, always in short circuits.

Behind these machines, ten people aged 20 to 64, all removed from employment and hired as part of integration projects.

“To get started, we received funding from the departmental council of 764,000 euros,” recalls Dro Kilndjian.

We hope to achieve a balance within three to four years.

“For the time being, around fifteen tonnes have already been recycled.

Ultimately, the association hopes to recycle 1,000 tonnes of unsold fruit and vegetables per year.

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  • Food

  • Marseilles