Logistics service provider IFCO and discount retailer Lidl have provided German charitable food distributor Tafel with a brand new, refrigerated van as well as 800 reusable crates for use in distributing fresh produce and other products to approximately 1,500 people living in and around the city of Ingolstadt in Bavaria.
Tafel, which operates some 850 centres across Germany, follows the same model of charitable food distribution pioneered by New York's City Harvest, collecting unused food and distributing it to the poor and needy.
According to IFCO, the use of returnable containers will enable Tafel to make significant savings in terms of its costs, particularly for disposable, cardboard packaging.
Discount retailer Lidl, meanwhile, also contributed to the €10,000 cost of purchasing the new Mercedes-Benz van.
'The practical, foldable green IFCO crates make it easier for Tafel Ingolstadt employees to transport, store and distribute food to the needy every day,' commented Sybille Hertel, the group's founding member and chairman since 1999. 'We thank IFCO for this support.'
