No Waste Army is growing fast: 550 pallets of surplus products are now being processed into around 25,000 food boxes. Photo: No Waste Army
No Waste Army buys surplus produce from farmers and growers, fighting food waste on a national scale.
‘The farmers determine what goes in the box. Depending on which fruit and vegetables we can rescue in collaboration with them, we look for producers who can turn those into the tastiest shelf-stable products. That means our subscribers are always in for a surprise when it comes to what’s inside the box – though we do regularly give a literal behind-the-scenes look via social media’, says Thibaud van der Steen enthusiastically. He is one of the four founders of No Waste Army, which since September last year has been filling thousands of boxes every quarter with vegetarian products made from surplus streams.
Van der Steen describes how in 2020 he and two friends began their fight against food waste: ‘We found it absurd how much fruit and vegetables farmers and growers simply couldn’t shift, because the produce didn’t meet supermarkets’ beauty standards or because a buyer failed to honour an agreement. As a result, an enormous amount is needlessly thrown away – a terrible waste for the farmer and bad for the environment. We thought to ourselves: this doesn’t have to be this way, and it can be different.’ The concept started small: anyone with a surplus could send the team a message on Instagram. ‘The first payments went through a Tikkie’, says Van der Steen with a laugh. As the volumes grew larger and more frequent, the friends joined forces with entrepreneur Stijn Markusse to form a new company: No Waste Army.
After the launch in June 2023, four thousand people signed up to receive the very first box a few months later. The following quarter, No Waste Army counted ten thousand ‘soldiers against waste’, as the company crowns its subscribers. ‘That was fantastic, of course’, says Van der Steen. ‘You hope it will catch on. But that explosive start also brought its share of growing pains. Everything is new, and suddenly you also have thousands of people with questions.’ Although the warehouse currently holds 550 pallets packed with all manner of products that need to be distributed across the more than 25,000 boxes this quarter, he says the business is now finding its feet.
‘We also donate to the food bank and work together with other companies’
The enormous success is a combination of the current zeitgeist and effective marketing, Van der Steen believes. ‘There is a genuine desire for change and for more sustainable solutions today, and people’s aversion to large corporations keeps growing. People would rather spend their money on farmer Bastiaan’s onions or Kees’s French beans than on a large, impersonal chain. By sharing the stories of the crops and the people behind them online, we bring our soldiers along for the entire journey.’ The growers themselves also find their way to No Waste Army. ‘We are one of the few in the Netherlands who pay a fair price for surplus produce. Through word of mouth, they hear about us and vice versa. But there is always room for more farmers and growers – do tip us off!’
All those farmers and boxes combined meant that over the past year and a half the company has been able to rescue more than half a million kilos of fruit and vegetables. That enormous quantity did not end up entirely as sauce, juice or spread in subscribers’ store cupboards. ‘We also donate to the food bank and work together with other companies. The box is merely a means to change the food chain. The margin we charge on the boxes is our main source of income – around 90 per cent – and is what allows us to keep doing our work.’
Van der Steen hopes to continue the work in the same way in the period ahead, whilst also setting his sights on a collaboration with a powerful player. ‘We are being heard by the big players – the major supermarkets that call the shots. It would be wonderful if we could set up something meaningful with one of them.’
COMPANY: No Waste Army
PRODUCT: quarterly box of shelf-stable products made from surplus streams
STRUCTURE: private limited company
LOCATION: Breda
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 18
FOUNDED: 2023
TURNOVER: unknown for 2024; €1.1 million in 2023
WEBSITE: nowastearmy.nl