Social entrepreneurship project of the week: SOL
Each year, about half of the food produced in the world goes to waste. Currently, food waste in industrialized countries amounts to 1.3 billion tons per year – enough to feed the 925 million people who are hungry every day.
In Portugal, a million tons of food is wasted every year – 17% of what the country produces.
Alerted by this huge food waste problem, SOL association decided to act and create the project: “SOL’s jams”.
By receiving donations of fruit, sometimes in large quantities, as a way of preventing these products from spoiling, SOL started producing various types of jams.
These jams are produced in an artisanal way, without the use of additives or preservatives. We do not use any extra substances to the fruit and sugar and the quantity of jams we produce depends on the donated fruit, which is usually seasonal fruit.
Also, the packaging we use to store our delicious sweets respects our idea of “zero waste”, as we reuse glass jars, to avoid creating more waste and damaging our planet.
The parallel impact of this project is raising awareness on the general public for the problem of food waste and the fact that this social business generates money that will be used to improve the product and reinvest in the social mission of the SOL Association.
SOL, as an institution that welcomes children infected with the AIDS virus, has an added responsibility to educate our children and young people practices such as prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. These practices are essential to halve per capita food waste worldwide by 2030, in order to achieve one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, Goal 12 – Sustainable Production and Consumption.
As director of the Sol Association and coordinator of this project, it is with great pride and satisfaction that I see the involvement of everyone in its implementation. Both the Sol staff and the children and young people who live there participate in the confection of the jams, in their packaging and even in their distribution, giving an incredibly special and familiar touch to each little jar.
“With sugar and affection, we made your favorite sweet.”
At Impact House, sustainable-driven house, you can find our delicious sweets. Their circulariy projects and social empowerment drive showed us that this partnership was a must and a natural step. You can try our products at breakfast or on desserts but also just buy a whole pot. So go there and try!