“Food is valuable“, and its value cannot be determined only through the market price to be achieved. This is the conviction of management and staff of the Frisch & Frost company, Austria’s leading producer of first-class potato, sweet dish, dough, and strudel products. It is impossible in our times, which are shaped by variety and rich offers, to avoid completely that products have to be returned to the enterprise on the market. Together with the consulting team of KOMUNITAS OG and SAM Lower Austria, a solution has been found to provide such precious food for social markets. Besides, many more possibilities of sustainably avoiding waste and sensibly using it directly in the material cycle have arisen from the approach of Social Production, chosen by the enterprise.

Already in the first talks of the consulting team of KOMUNITAS OG with Mag. (FH) Johannes Schachel, MSc, four concrete options of cooperation with social projects have come up:

• Dissemination of undamaged food
• Dissemination of functional 1,000 liter tanks
• Processing of damaged wooden transport boxes
• Processing and maintenance of used monitors and EDP devices.

Preference was given to the discussion of the topic of food. Attempts to deliver wrongly labeled food or food refused by the customer to social institutions, such as, for instance, to the homeless institution “Gruft” of Caritas Vienna, failed due to insufficient cooling capability. The sole option of usage was the in-house biogas plant, where at least the energy content of this food could be used.

1. Water tanks

Three water tanks have been handed over to “WUK Bio-plants social agriculture” at Gaenserndorf, and there they are used as rainwater butts.

“The provision of the water tanks came in useful, because we needed the supply with rainwater for our display garden, in order to acquire the badge of “nature in the garden”. Getting in contact and picking up the water tanks worked very well and quickly.”

Ursula Königer (WUK bio.plants)

2. Dissemination of off-specification batches/returned goods to SAM

Lower Austria: Off-specification batches of frozen food can in the future be delivered to SAM Lower Austria. The responsible organization of the Lower Austrian social markets has a central cooling equipment, and thus precious food can be distributed from there not only in Lower Austria, but also delivered to social markets in the whole of Austria.

3. Monitors and computers

Damaged monitors and computers and such, which have been disposed of for reasons of system-engineering of the Frisch & Frost company will in the future be handed over to social enterprises. There, the devices are either professionally disassembled and processed or, where technically feasible and economically sensible, they are revitalized and passed on to needy recipients. A first delivery of damaged monitors to VISP GmbH, reprocessing initiative for bulk waste at Grafenwoerth, has already been made. The computers which are still serviceable in the view of this enterprise shall be provided for the project of “Social Computers” SoCom, starting from autumn 2011. Here the devices can be professionally reprocessed and transferred to socially disadvantaged persons.

4. Sustainability report in “social wrapping”

The sustainability report of Frisch & Frost is also published as a CD. Even the cover of this CD has received special attention, for it is produced in manufacture out of packaging waste of this enterprise. The returns of the production of these covers will facilitate for some children in the countries of the South one meal daily at school for a year through a donation to “Mary’s meals” organization.