Fruta à
Moda Antiga

We are a team of friends who have gathered forces around the idea of creating an impact driven project. Alice holds a bachelor’s degree in Political and Science and International Relations and is currently undertaking a Master’s in Environmental Studies. She has a passion for all things environment-related but has nurtured a particular interest for the subject of food waste. Lucinda is also an undergraduate in Political and Science and International Relations and is now pursuing a Master’s in Business Management. She believes business and positive social impact can go hand in hand. Madalena has studied Fashion Design and is a Master’s student in Business Management, where is she is exploring the ways in which business and creativity can intertwine. Our project merges all our passions, leveraging our different experiences and learning journeys.

PROJECT

Fruta à Moda Antiga aims to be a community driven project that leverages the power of partnerships to serve three goals:

• contributing towards the fight against food waste by assisting food retail businesses in reducing their fruit waste,
• providing people over 55 with an opportunity to engage in an activity which supports their active ageing and values their skills,
• providing conscious consumers delicious fruit based products.

How do we accomplish this? We rescue the fruit stock that retail businesses are unable to sell and give it a new life in the form of versatile and delicious food products, cooked with care by our community. The result is a project that creates social and economic value in a sustainable manner, reinvents tradition and contributes towards the development of more inclusive, resilient and sustainable communities. By helping to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with that waste, as well as by fostering community resilience, Fruta à Moda Antiga impacts the capacity of urban communities in addressing climate change. 

Our project idea was first drafted when we decided to join forces and take part in a contest that challenges university students to come up with corporate social responsibility project ideas focused on contributing towards the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It was then that we envisaged the possibility of turning two problems which greatly concerned us – food waste and elderly isolation – into something positive as a way to help build more sustainable and inclusive communities. After winning the contest, we thought “Why stop now?” and decided to invest our passion for sustainability into improving the idea and trying to make it flourish. 

MOTIVATION FOR AND COMMITMENT TO CREATING A BETTER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE PLANET

The world is tackling severe social and environmental challenges, which compromise well-being of many people around the world today and will tend to do so increasingly in the future. However, when we look around, we can also envision the many possibilities that are born out of people working together to face adversities and create innovation. That helps us understand this grey future is not one that we should surrender to. It is our concern for what surrounds us but also our believe in the possibility of change that motivates to try to contribute towards a more sustainable world.