It is a godsend for people with a limited budget: a food cabinet has recently been installed on a street in Rotterdam-West. In it people can put excess food and drink. If you need it, you can take out a jar of jam or take out matzos, for example.
“It is going very well. The assortment in the cupboard changes daily and people bring what they have in their pantry and don’t use. This is how we prevent waste,” says Petra Verhelst at the regional channel Rijnmond. “Now there is, for example, a jar of red cabbage, crackers, a bar of gingerbread and much more.”
Verhelst works at a community center and was inspired by a message on the internet for the food cupboard. She is also aware of the success of the mini-library, which you will find all over the Netherlands for much longer.
Even at such a mini library in Rotterdam-West it has been stormy for quite some time, says a local resident at a cupboard full of books. “Corona has made people look for alternatives to shops and the library.”
Sharing cuttings and small plants
A little further in the city, on the Insulindestraat, there is a plant library, where you can share cuttings and small plants. Initiator Gerion Arntz says that she wants to make the neighborhood greener together with the neighbor. “But it’s mainly about sharing. We already have several book libraries in the street, so a plant library was a logical next step,” said Arntz. “If you have something to spare, why not share it with your neighbors?”
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