Everything is reversed at the special TKRAMREPUS supermarket

A special initiative that can offer a solution if you would like to donate food to the food bank but do not know exactly how: at TKRAMREPUS (indeed, ’supermarkt’ backwards), you can bring in food instead of buying and taking it with you. It is then collected and distributed among food banks.

Perhaps you have sometimes seen a collection point for a food bank at the exit of your own supermarket. If this is announced at the entrance, you can then, if your budget allows, buy some extra groceries and leave them there for the food bank. Very good, but logistically speaking, this presents some challenges for the food bank itself.

TKRAMREPUS

To help with this logistics and other planning, Stichting Knappe Koppen Vrijwillig launched the TKRAMREPUS initiative, also known as the Reverse Supermarket, where you bring food items instead of taking them with you. They previously did this at a pop-up location, but the good news is that they will have a permanent location in Amsterdam very soon.

Difficult times

A permanent drop-off point is being established on Czaar Peterstraat, in Amsterdam-Oost, close to the city centre. As stated on the website deomgekeerdesupermarkt.nl, the food bank is the fastest-growing bank in the Netherlands, which is rather pessimistic. Because technology and working methods are becoming increasingly efficient, supermarkets and the hospitality industry are also wasting less and less (which is of course a good thing in itself), leaving fewer surplus products for food bank branches.

Plans for expansion

The hope is to open a Reverse Supermarket in every city where people can bring food items, thereby contributing to the fight against poverty and food waste. People cannot collect food from these locations; it is not a system in which items are brought in and immediately distributed or handed out. These are collection points from which the goods are taken to the food bank or the food bank’s distribution centres.

Want to know more about this initiative, through which you can do something for someone else? Visit deomgekeerdesupermarkt.nl

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