#001 – SIRPLUS

GreenBuzz Berlin is on a mission! 

We want to find 100 Sustainable Solutions to present them to you, our community. Our goal is to highlight interesting and innovative people, projects and companies that are working towards sustainability and to share the information and wisdom that is already out there. A special interest of the 100 Sustainable Solutions is to give you an opportunity to get involved with every one of the solutions.

In our initial six survey questions, we ask about purpose, impact, and challenges. We want to know where the organizations get their optimism from and how anyone can get involved, on board and in touch.

We are very happy to have SIRPLUS on board as our first organization and here are their answers.

Why does your organisation exist?

The most straightforward answer is that 18 million tons of food are wasted every year in Germany alone. This equals one truckload of food every minute! Millions are wasted by producers, suppliers and wholesalers. On the other hand, consumers want to reduce food waste but often lack the time and means. This is where we come in: By saving surplus (excess) food and reselling it in our online shop and through our 6 Berlin-based “Rettermärkte”, we offer a solution! Also, raising awareness for sustainable use of precious resources is a matter very close to our hearts. 

What impact do you have?

We are saving food which would otherwise have been wasted. By doing that we are raising awareness about the amount of resources which have been used for the production, packaging and transportation of a product. We are also motivating people to trust their instincts when considering to put food items in the bin: The best-before date is just a vague indication and not the same as the use-by date. 

Measuring this impact is possible by looking at what we have achieved: Since our foundation in 2017 (we celebrate our third birthday in September), we were able to save 3 million kilograms of food – together with our customers and over 800 partners! The more we grow, the more food we can save: We are now a team of 140! Besides these numbers, we are always happy to hear from our customers and the people we engage with to educate about food waste. The feedback we get and the conversations we have to show us in which way we can change peoples minds – and how we have still have to work harder to raise our impact! 

What are your main challenges?

Of course, Corona was and is still a big challenge. Overall we turned the obstacles this virus imposed into opportunities: We had the chance to reflect and started some significant organizational restructuring. As society couldn’t move around as freely as they usually do, we are now selling even more food in our online shop to appreciative customers who love delicious, saved food! Besides that, we are a fast-growing company which means it is always a challenge to balance growth and organizational developments at the same time. 

What gives you reason for optimism for the future?

We are saving more food than ever which shows that people are committed to doing good for our planet. This gives us so much confidence that we opened our sixth Rettermarkt in August; returning to Wilmersdorfer Straße, where we started our incredible “food saving” journey with our very first store in 2017.

Also, we believe that we are living in a period of considerable transformations in humanity where everyday mindfulness becomes more critical. The immediacy of the climate crisis pressures us as individuals, environmentalists and policymakers to act now. Fridays for Future showed us that there are millions of people who are not only wanting to live a mindful lifestyle, but are also actively demanding it by taking their protest to the streets. People want to change their way of consumption and are looking for solutions, we are honoured to be able to contribute to this at SIRPLUS. 

We have curious readers, eager to get active. How can they get involved with your project?

By buying and eating our saved food which everybody can get online and in our Berlin-based Rettermärkte! 

How can they get in touch?

You can reach us via social media and via e-mail. We have a very engaged community who is with us in our commitment against food waste. 

Email: mail@sirplus.de 
Website: https://sirplus.de/ 
Facebook : https://facebook.com/sirplus.de 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SirPlus_de 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sirplus.de 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/sirplus_de