VOA新闻杂志2023--To Cut Food Waste, Switzerland Tries Public Refrigerators

To Cut Food Waste, Switzerland Tries Public Refrigerators

A nonprofit group in Geneva, Switzerland is making refrigerators available so restaurant owners and cooks can make food available to the public before it goes bad.

The refrigerators are being placed along streets for anyone to use. The project is part of a continuing effort by people in Switzerland and other European countries to cut down on food waste.

The nonprofit Free-Go has put refrigerators and food storage centers in Geneva so people can get fruit, vegetables, breads and other foods at no cost. Free-Go is a smart play on the word "frigo," which is an informal French word for refrigerator.

The program costs about $40,000 to run each year. It receives support from private groups and the city government. Free-Go launched¹ a year ago with a single refrigerator outside a community center in western Geneva. There are now four refrigerators around the city. The group plans a fifth before the end of the year.

Marine² Delevaux is the project's director. She said the food left in its refrigerators is usually taken within an hour of being left. For health and legal reasons, no frozen³ foods, open food containers, prepared meals, or alcohol⁴ are permitted in the refrigerators.

Free-Go also lets people who use the service plan when they will get their food. The idea is to make it easier for people who live in apartment buildings to join the program. There is also a telephone line, or "hotline," that restaurants can use to call for someone to pick up unused food.

"Generally, when the food collected from shops and restaurants arrives in the morning, people are already waiting to help themselves," Delevaux said.

She added that the first Geneva refrigerator helped save 3.2 tons of food from going to waste last year. Of the food donated, only about three percent had to be thrown away because nobody wanted it.

Free-Go said those who give food from private businesses, like restaurants or food sellers⁵, must promise to make sure the donated food is safe to eat. Swiss law says food past the "recommended use-by" date can be eaten for up to a year afterwards, Delevaux said.

The Swiss government estimates⁶ that nearly one-third of all food products are wasted or thrown away. That amounts to about 330 kilograms of food waste per person each year. Of that, about 100 kilograms are waste from households.

Free-Go says about 1 billion tons of food go to waste every year around the world. The group says the waste uses up energy and other resources in the farming and transportation process.

"Wasting food is not only an ethical⁷ and economic issue but it also depletes⁹ the environment of limited natural resources," the European Union's Commission¹⁰ said.

Similar food-sharing campaigns are in place in the Swiss capital, Bern, and in the town of Neuchatel. The idea was first imported from Germany.

Foodsharing.de is a community group in Germany that started more than 10 years ago. It said that more than half a million people in Germany, Switzerland and Austria have made "the food-sharing initiative¹¹ an international movement." The group said it has helped save 83 million tons of food from going to waste.

Because the food is free, and the donations¹² can change, it is not always clear what will appear in the refrigerators. Some people receiving food might not get what they want or need.

Outside a community center in Geneva recently, Shala Moradi said she was looking for some bread and there was none. She is 65 years old and came from Iran. She has lived in Geneva for 10 years. She said she appreciates the initiative.

"It's very good. I can take strawberries, cherries, things like that," she said, talking about the different food that is available. Of the no cost food, she said, "I like that too."

Severine Cuendet is a 54-year-old teacher. Just after leaving some vegetables that she grew, she said, "We have too much" and praised the initiative "because this neighborhood has a lot of need."

She added, "And it happens to all of us to buy too much."

Words in This Story

refrigerator – n. a device¹³ or room that is used to keep food cold

apartment building –n. a building that holds many places to live which could have one or several rooms

pick up –v. to go to get something and take it back to where it is needed

shop – n. a building or room where goods and services are sold

deplete⁸ – v. to use most or all of (something important): to greatly reduce the amount of (something)

initiative – n. a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem

appreciate – v. to understand the worth or importance of (something or someone): to admire and value (something or someone)

1 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

2 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

3 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

4 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

5 sellers   

n.卖者( seller的名词复数 )；卖方；销售者；销售商

参考例句：

• buyers and sellers transacting business 进行交易的买方和卖方
• All manner of hawkers and street sellers were plying their trade. 形形色色的沿街小贩都在做着自己的买卖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

8 deplete   

v.弄空，排除，减轻，减少...体液，放去...的血

参考例句：

• Most native mammal species have been severely depleted.大多数本地哺乳动物的数量都已经大大减少了。
• Elastic collisions deplete very little of the electron's energy.弹性碰撞中电子减少的能量非常少。

9 depletes   

使大大的减少，使空虚( deplete的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽，使枯竭

参考例句：

• Stress depletes both energy and motivation. 压力不仅消耗体力而且让你丧失动力。
• Scientists refute a longstanding theory of how HIV slowly depletes the body's capacity to fight infection. 科学家驳倒一个爱滋病毒如何慢慢地耗尽身体容量对抗感染的长时间理论。

10 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

11 initiative   

n.主动性，首创精神，主动权（的行动），倡议

参考例句：

• He went to see the headmaster on his own initiative.他主动去看望校长。
• His employer had described him as lacking in initiative and drive.雇主说他缺乏进取心和干劲。

12 donations   

n.捐赠( donation的名词复数 )；赠送；捐款；捐赠物

参考例句：

• The hospital receives a good deal of money in donations. 这家医院收到捐赠来的大笔款项。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The charity is completely reliant on public donations. 这一慈善团体完全依靠公众捐款。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。