30,000 kg of Donated Food a Day: Hungary's Food Bank and Its 800 Daily Pickups

The Hungarian Food Bank Association (Magyar Élelmiszerbank Egyesület) rescues surplus food from supermarkets, manufacturers and restaurants and passes it to charities at more than 400 locations. By its own count it has saved about 140 million kg of food, equal to over 300 million portions, and avoided roughly 350,000 tonnes of CO2 load. Around 8,500 volunteers help each year, and about 30,000 kg of donations reach recipients on a typical day. Its school canteen programme collects about 350,000 portions of untouched lunches each school year for nearby social institutions. It also runs national food drives, and reports each 1 forint donated unlocks about 30 forints of food.