Many fresh products on the central market in Buenos Aires are considered unsellable, even if they are still edible. Now a program to reduce food waste is also creating new jobs.
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00:00The Central Market in Buenos Aires, one of the largest of its kind in South America.
00:09Almost a third of Argentina's fresh produce passes through these warehouses
00:14and is distributed to stores and restaurants across the country.
00:19But much of it goes to waste, considered unsellable even if still edible.
00:26In Argentina's unstable economy, rising costs and unemployment
00:31have driven people to search in the scraps for food.
00:36Tomasa Chavez is one of them.
00:39But what she once did out of desperation, she now does for a job.
00:47I didn't have a job before. I used to come here to the market and search for food.
00:54I collected it and I sold what I found. I did it out of need.
01:00I worked like that for many years.
01:03I kept some of the food and I sold the rest. I had no other choice.
01:09Tomasa now works for the Program to Reduce Waste,
01:12which rescues food and lifts people from poverty.
01:17I spent 35 years like that, searching for food.
01:26I was unemployed.
01:31And then I got this job and I take care to keep it. I always come early.
01:38Every day the 64-year-old sorts edible produce from real rubbish,
01:42though she hates to throw anything away.
01:47I don't like it very much. It's a pity to throw it away.
01:51I feel sorry because a lot of people need it.
01:54Many people come to collect food like I did before. I used to collect too.
02:01It has changed me a lot because I'm happy here.
02:03I have formal employment, thank God.
02:05I've been here for four years and I haven't missed a single day.
02:10The Food Rescue Program was launched by a group of central market workers
02:14during the COVID-19 pandemic,
02:16motivated by the level of waste and growing social need.
02:21Fabian Reynoldi is an agronomist
02:23who used to work in the Markets Administration and now runs the program.
02:30The main objective of integrated waste management through this program
02:34is to recover voluntary donations from vendors
02:37that are still fit for human consumption and have nutritional value,
02:41to be reprocessed, prepared and delivered as donations to community kitchens.
02:47The organic waste that's not fit for human consumption
02:50is turned into compost to transform it into a resource.
02:58The program is paid for by the central market,
03:01but it's not just about charity.
03:03There are economic benefits from reducing waste.
03:08Obviously, there's a reduction in the logistical costs that the market has to pay.
03:13By sending less to the waste management company, you pay less.
03:17You pay a lower final disposal fee.
03:22For Fabian, just as important as recovering food
03:26is restoring dignity for the program's workers.
03:29Many of whom used to live from the market's scraps.
03:35Some of them have been able to complete their houses.
03:38Some now have social security and can get better medical attention.
03:45They recover their human dignity
03:47and now they have the possibility to develop professionally and personally.
03:54Every day, the program diverts around 2,500 kilograms
03:58of edible produce from the dumpsters.
04:01The team sorts it into bags, ready to give to the needy.
04:07Today we have pears, pumpkin, squash, carrots, eggplant and parsley.
04:14Each bag weighs eight kilos.
04:17People come from all over the world,
04:19Each bag weighs eight kilos.
04:22People come from across Buenos Aires to collect food bags.
04:26Poverty levels have soared under the government of Libertarian President Javier Millet,
04:31who cuts subsidies and price controls for many basic goods and services
04:35after taking office in late 2023.
04:38Retirees are among the worst affected.
04:43Yes, a lot.
04:45There are many people from the pensioners' club who come here.
04:48That's why I come here too.
04:50The current situation in Argentina is not good.
04:54We have to economize on food, on everything, to buy some medicine.
05:01President Millet says his harsh austerity measures
05:04are necessary to correct decades of economic mismanagement.
05:11Nothing changes, nothing.
05:13On the contrary, things are a bit worse than before.
05:17There were more things before.
05:19Now there are many community kitchens.
05:21Many things have closed. That's how it is.
05:25Later in the day, vehicles come to collect bulk produce
05:28from more than 300 community kitchens,
05:31which provide free food for tens of thousands of people across the city.
05:37Nancy Ponce runs a community kitchen.
05:40She says daily life has become harder,
05:43despite official figures showing inflation has reduced.
05:50With this government, the demand has increased a lot.
05:53Many more families are registering to receive food.
05:56We're not seeing less inflation.
05:58We're seeing less employment, and things are getting more expensive.
06:02We know that there's a lot more need.
06:04We're seeing more and more poor people.
06:07There are many families that have lost their jobs,
06:10many that have been laid off.
06:12There are carts on the street, people who collect rubbish,
06:15people who ask for help because they can't afford things.
06:19They are paid less and less,
06:21and things are getting more and more expensive.
06:28The programme can't save everything.
06:30Only about 45% of what it receives is fit to feed people.
06:34Much of the rest is used to feed plants.
06:37Rejected organic waste is turned into compost.
06:42It's used to grow more produce, and can eventually be sold.
06:48By treating waste here internally at the central market,
06:51we reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.
06:55That way we're reducing our carbon footprint,
06:58reducing the effect of greenhouse gases,
07:01and obviously we're taking care of the environment a little more.
07:06The programme still has room to grow.
07:09It only receives about 6.5% of the market's total waste.
07:14Fabian hopes to expand within the market and beyond.
07:18Already other municipalities in Argentina and Uruguay
07:22are replicating the programme,
07:24and experts have come from Germany to observe the work.
07:29Despite their efforts, many people still come to find
07:33forage in the rubbish, even children.
07:36This man comes here twice a week to feed his family.
07:40Today he's collected a bag of vegetables.
07:45That's a plate of food.
07:47It's a plate of food.
07:49At least we're not going to sleep with an empty stomach.
07:52But what he and others here are really looking for
07:56is a decently paying job.
07:59I honestly come looking for work.
08:03I come to look for work and I collect a little
08:06to take home so that there will be enough to eat.
08:09But I'm really looking for a job.
08:12I've been asking for work at all the stalls since I arrived.
08:15That's what I really need, a job to pay the rent,
08:18pay for my wife's thyroid medicine,
08:20my son's treatment, and everything else.
08:25The programme can't help all those in need,
08:28or eliminate all waste.
08:30But in Argentina, it has become a symbol of hope in hard times.