‘Three to 4 times a week I collect food that would otherwise be thrown away, at the market or at Marqt. On Tuesday, it goes to Groenten Zonder Grenzen, on other days to the Pauluskerk, the Food Bank or I take it to the zoo where I give it to my colleagues. Part of it goes to their rabbits, goats, chickens and pigs. With a large shopping bag full of food I then board the train to Antwerp, where I have been taking care of the small monkey species for eight years now. Ring tailed lemurs, lion monkeys, spider monkeys, mandrills, you name it. And in the future also the lions and the tigers. There I work five days a week and two days at Groenten Zonder Grenzen.

Since I often work at the zoo on Saturdays, I usually take my weekend day on Tuesdays so that I can go to the market for Groenten Zonder Grenzen. We will then gather at the community center on Kipstraat at four o’clock. We pick up wheelbarrows there and then we go to the market with two or three volunteers. We visit a few regular stalls that always give something, and within half an hour we are back on the Kipstraat with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. If it is not enough, we also ask some other market participants. But those market people are very friendly people and always give a lot. On Wednesdays, I often leave work an hour earlier to help with cooking and setting the tables.

I think combating food waste mainly has to do with raising awareness among people. I think everyone should do their bit. I don’t know if what we’re doing helps or not, but it’s a start. It is nice to involve more people step by step. Hopefully people will buy things that they really need, not buy to have. The same goes for shoes and clothes, people just buy, but they are not aware of how things are made and in which countries and so on. ‘