Ätbart i Skövde focuses on reducing the gigantic food waste and redistributing unused food resources to economically vulnerable households.
The efforts make a big difference. Ätbart has distributed almost two million meals in Skaraborg over the past year.
Now the association is ready for 2023 and just like this year, Inexchange continues to support their commendable work.
Just before Christmas, the President of the Ätbart Association Mickaël Gayet visited us. He gave a thought-provoking breakfast lecture that surely made the audience feel quite a lot of sadness, but also a lot of hope. Of this, 17 kilos are thrown in our garbage and 18 kilos are flushed down the drain. ¹)
These are figures that pierce the conscience.
But thankfully, there are initiatives that offer hope for change. We can all help to reduce waste in everyday life, and you can also go one step further and contribute funds to an organization that specializes in this area.
That's exactly what Inexchange has done. We entered into a partnership with the non-profit organization Ätbart in Skövde when this year started and now we choose to extend our partnership for another year.
We, like so many others, see that Ätbart's work makes a difference.
And even more difference is in sight.
- Ätbart is undergoing a major restructuring right now. Exactly what that solution looks like will be announced in the first quarter of 2023, explains Mickaël Gayet who, pending said presentation, naturally cannot reveal the plans in detail.
- But this much I can say that Ätbart is expanding into Sweden.
Sure, it sounds exciting. Since InExchange offers digital services that promote sustainability - by reducing paper consumption and carbon emissions - it makes sense to partner with an organization that also works to conserve the earth's natural resources.
The fact that it is also combined with invaluable efforts for socio-economically vulnerable groups makes the collaboration even more natural.
Mickaël Gayet is endlessly grateful for the support that the business community provides. The resources that Inexchange, and others with us, provide are a prerequisite for not only running the business further - but also developing it.
- Inexchange helps to enable a Swedish investment, Mickaël states bluntly and sounds incredibly excited about the coming year:
- The fact that we now choose to expand is very much thanks to InExchange having been involved and supported the model that we have built up. InExchange was involved and gave us the conditions to carry out the first work. Now we will take the model to the next step and take it out into our country.
Mickaël simply feels that Ätbart's concept is ready to grow outside Skaraborg. It's really inevitable in a situation where things are moving at express speed.
- We're not even talking about a linear increase. We're talking exponential," he emphasizes eagerly, but at the same time offers a sober assessment:
- "It's always the beginning that's the hardest. Now we have reached the point where we feel more stable and can draw on all the experience we have. We have the knowledge capital, and also the lessons learned, to channel out to organizations around Sweden. We are a model for the rest of the country.
¹) The figures for food waste per person in Sweden are taken from the booklet "Ätbart - en svinnbra handbok", which refers to statistics from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish National Food Agency. Ätbart released this book on November 15. It is an edition filled with tips and advice to help you reduce food waste.
Read more here: A Wasteful Book Released November 15