Fruta Feia CRL

Fruta Feia CRL sells fruit and vegetables that conventional retail turns away purely for how they look. The produce is fully nutritious and edible, rejected solely for cosmetic imperfections, so the cooperative has built a market for it. It was founded in Portugal on 18 November 2013, on the premise that appearance should never determine what a product is worth. It runs on membership. Consumers register and collect a weekly basket of rescued produce at one of 21 delivery points: 15 in the Lisbon region and six in the Porto region, in municipalities including Almada, Amadora, Cascais, Gaia and Matosinhos. The cooperative works directly with over 404 producers who would otherwise have to throw away tonnes of good food. Fruta Feia tracks the environmental effect of its work. So far it has prevented 8,190 tonnes of food waste. That has saved approximately 8,987,200 m³ of water, preserved 194 hectares of soil, conserved nearly 11,742,000 kWh of energy and avoided 7,289 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. Every one of these figures is tied directly to food that was rescued rather than wasted. The cooperative also builds community through its campaigns, “Beautiful People Eat Ugly Fruit” and “Beautiful People Produce Ugly Fruit”, which share the stories of the people who eat the produce and the farmers who grow it. It regularly calls for volunteers to help put the baskets together, and it's open about its operations, finances and environmental data. Demand is growing, and Fruta Feia is still expanding its network and recruiting new team members and volunteers.