Picking fruit from private individuals in demand to fight against food waste: the initiative launched at the end of 2020 in La Rochelle by the association Aux arbres citoyens has flourished throughout the country.
On October 16, the National Day for the Fight against Food Waste, the association distributed fig and walnut jams collected two weeks earlier by about twenty volunteers gathered by the founder of the association, Coralie Tisné-Versailles, at the Maison de l'étudiant in the Charente city.
"It's the right solution and it preserves the social sense that our father who planted these trees wanted," Joëlle Vallet, co-owner of the walnut grove where the harvest took place, told AFP. "It really helps a lot," says Alicia, who is in her fourth year of studying to become a teacher of life sciences.
In 2023, Aux arbres citoyens planned a hundred pickings from private volunteers, during which it harvested four tons of fruit.
The collection is then shared between the owners, the pickers and food distribution organizations (Food Banks, Restos du Cœur, social grocery stores, social centers, etc.).
"For fruit, we find it difficult to give to students because they are absent at harvest time (in summer, editor's note)," regrets Coralie Tisné-Versailles. So, we make up for it with nuts and some vegetables."
Since the creation of Aux arbres citoyens, a dozen local branches have been created in Normandy, Alsace and Auvergne "and a dozen others will appear in 2025", according to the founder.
Each French person throws away 25 kg of food per year, according to the specialized application Too Good To GO, and the UN estimates that one billion meals are wasted every day in the world, denouncing a "global tragedy" through the voice of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen.