Women's plan feeds 10,000 via food bank

PDT Food Depot saves nearly 26 tons amid national push to reduce waste

Nearly 26 metric tons of food that would have been destined for landfills in the past three years in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, have instead been used to feed more than 10,000 people thanks to a local food bank.

Chen Jiahua and Zhang Ying, both in their early 20s, started a food bank in 2017 to salvage food that was still good but was not used or close to expiring. The food bank, PDT Food Depot－named for the French word for potato, pomme de terre－started distribution in communities in Guangzhou. It then expanded to a much greater part of the city with the help of the Shanghai Oasis Ecological Conservation and Communication Center, which had created the country's first food bank in 2014.

The program also joined Oasis' food bank network. Partners within the network share information about obtaining donated products－usually food items close to their "best before" dates from supermarkets and producers or excess from restaurants－so that the food can be redistributed to the nearest recipients.