With our responsibility to be more sustainable in mind, we asked ourselves how we could use the resources in our appliances for longer before they have to be recycled. This prompted three of our employees to tackle this from the perspective of the circular economy under our Talent Project. “Our team looked at how we could retool returned appliances and donate them to social undertakings or non-profit organisations in the local area,” states Mauro Odoni, Head HR Business Partner and HR Services at V-ZUG. As a result, two V-ZUG service technicians within the Refurbishment for Charity project restored a CombiCooler V4000 refrigerator and delivered it to Bad Knutwil Youth Village.
A warm reception for V-ZUG’s efforts
For almost a century, this socio-educational institution has been carrying out civil and criminal sentences for young men with behavioural problems while helping them to lead independent lives. Everyone involved in the project was delighted about the donation. The young men now have plenty of space to store their food. The V-ZUG project team is happy too: “We learned a lot from each other and about the second-hand market during this collaboration. We can make great use of second-hand models by giving appliances a new lease of life,” states Odoni. Gilbert Henzen, Director of the Bad Knutwil Youth Village, is also quick to praise the donation: “I am a huge supporter of this project. As a social institution, it is not always easy to keep the books balanced, which is why we are all the more delighted by V-ZUG’s efforts. It is a fantastic helping hand for us.” The Refurbishment for Charity project will be continued and expanded into its own business model.
Taking steps together against food waste
Another organisation that we support is The Lost Food Project. This initiative has set its sights on a sustainable future by saving ‘lost’ food – which is to say surplus but still good – and distributing it to the people who need it most. The Lost Food Project started in a small supermarket in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Today, the organisation works with more than 80 NGOs and provides food to more than 20,000 people each week. In 2022, The Lost Food Project set up a site in Switzerland, where it delivers food to around 1,500 people per week.
The Lost Food Project’s premises in Western Switzerland have been home to ten second-hand refrigerators since the start of 2023. In addition to giving the refrigerators a new lease of life, V-ZUG is actively contributing to reducing food waste and CO2 emissions by supporting this initiative. In Switzerland, we produce around 2.6 million tonnes of food waste annually, which equates to 317 kg per person per year. Food that can still be eaten invariably ends up in the bin – making it all the more important to find solutions at every level. One option is to extend the shelf life of certain foodstuffs. And what better way to do that than by putting food in the refrigerator?
“I am delighted by the refrigerators and their long service life. The fact that V-ZUG is so focused on sustainability – and actively embraces it – is another reason that our collaboration is so rewarding,” states Suzanne Mooney, Founder of The Lost Food Project.