Category: Sustainable Development Goals

València celebrates the first donation of the REDONA project to combat food waste

The REDONA project, a pioneering initiative to reduce food waste in Mercavalència, has made its first official donation: 100 kg of potatoes delivered by Frutas Rovi to Casa Caridad. This milestone marks the beginning of a strategic collaboration between wholesalers and social organizations to redirect surplus food to those who need it most. This trial also helped consolidate the process of posting, accepting, and collecting products, establishing the basic procedure for how this organizational innovation will operate in the fruit and vegetable market. Key process elements were refined, such as the need for immediate publication and collection, with stricter schedules to ensure freshness and food use. The success of this first donation demonstrates REDONA’s potential to transform surplus food management in València, fostering a healthier, more sustainable, and more caring city.

REDONA visits Casa Caridad and consolidates a strategic alliance in the fight against food waste

As part of the València 2030 Climate Mission, the REDONA project — funded by the City Council of València — paid an institutional visit to Casa Caridad to learn more about its food management model and formalize a key collaboration to support the project’s development. The visit brought together representatives from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Mercavalència and Casa Caridad, who toured the facilities located on Paseo de la Pechina. During the visit, they observed how Casa Caridad receives, classifies, and distributes food donations from supermarkets and other contributors, ensuring quality and adaptation to users’ specific needs. Casa Caridad features robust infrastructure, including a donation reception area, specialized refrigeration chambers, a centralized kitchen preparing daily menus, and a tailored food distribution system for each family unit. This comprehensive food recovery model is a benchmark in the city of València and has been recognized as an essential foundation for collaboration with REDONA. The meeting concluded with the establishment of a cooperation agreement between REDONA and Casa Caridad, enabling the effective redirection of fresh produce recovered at Mercavalència to an organization with extensive experience in supporting people in vulnerable situations. This partnership marks a decisive step forward for the project, combining technical, logistical, and human resources to reduce food waste and promote a more circular and socially responsible economy.

REDONA launches first donation trials at Mercavalència and strengthens its progress

The REDONA project, promoted by the Universitat Politècnica de València with the aim of reducing food waste at Mercavalència, has started its first pilot tests of food donations this week. This phase marks an important milestone in the implementation of a system that will allow surplus food to be redistributed to social entities efficiently, safely, and in a coordinated manner. During these initial trials, the logistics circuit, product traceability, and handling protocols are being validated, ensuring that the entire process complies with the recently approved regulations on food waste. REDONA thus continues its path steadily, reinforcing the commitment of Mercavalència and its wholesale operators to a more sustainable and supportive model. The project involves active collaboration with  Casa Caridad, a prominent social organization in València, Mercavalència operators such as Frutas Rovi, and Mercavalència itself. It is currently in a full phase of technical evaluation and operational adjustment. In the coming weeks, the trials are expected to be extended to new operators and the first donations carried out, with the goal of establishing a permanent surplus food donation system that can be replicated in other wholesale markets.

The new Food Waste Law strengthens the value of projects like REDONA

The Official State Gazette (BOE) has published Law 1/2025, on the prevention of food loss and waste—a pioneering regulation in Spain that requires all stakeholders in the food chain to implement specific prevention plans and prioritize the donation of surpluses for human consumption. The new law establishes a hierarchy of food use for unsold items, encouraging their redistribution for social purposes, transformation into other products, or, as a last resort, their use for animal feed or composting. This legislative step aims to align the agri-food system with the principles of circular economy and social justice. In this context, the REDONA project, led by the Universitat Politècnica de València, stands out as a forward-thinking initiative. REDONA is already operational in Mercavalència, redirecting food surpluses to social organizations such as Casa Caridad, thereby preventing waste and ensuring that nutritious food reaches people in vulnerable situations. The implementation of REDONA not only complies with the new law’s requirements, but also reinforces the role of universities and innovation ecosystems as drivers of social change. Its local impact in València proves that it is possible to design replicable solutions that integrate sustainability, justice, and collaboration between the public and social sectors.

REDONA presents its project to AMAFRUVA with a view to future collaborations

On January 29, 2025, a meeting took place at Mercavalència between representatives of the REDONA project and the Association of Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers (AMAFRUVA), with the aim of presenting the initiative and exploring potential avenues for collaboration. During the meeting, the team from the Universitat Politècnica de València outlined the benefits of REDONA for market operators, its alignment with current legal frameworks, the functionality of the technological tool, and the implementation timeline, which includes a pilot project. The role AMAFRUVA could play in disseminating the project among its members was highlighted, along with its possible involvement in training activities and the upcoming public presentation event at Mercavalència. Both parties exchanged views on potential synergies between REDONA and other ongoing initiatives, especially in the field of circular economy. The session helped strengthen mutual understanding and laid the groundwork for potential future cooperation in addressing food waste in the wholesale sector.

REDONA shares its experience in the fight against food waste at an international event organized by CEMAS

REDONA took part in the international event “Strengthening cities’ capacity for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste” held on October 8, 2024, at the Veles e Vents building in Valencia. Organized by CEMAS and the European Food Information Council (EUFIC), the event brought together representatives from European institutions and cities such as Milan, Warsaw, and Gothenburg, aiming to exchange best practices and enhance urban capacity to tackle food waste. REDONA presented its local experience recovering discarded fruits and vegetables at Mercavalència for redistribution with social purposes, highlighting the essential role of cities in building fairer and more sustainable food systems.

REDONA project presented at the Food Waste Challenge 2021

The Food Waste Challenge is an annual competition targeting SDGs 12, 2, 11, 13 and 15. It seeks ideas to solve challenges from all parts of the value chain, from household food waste to organisational and societal food waste. Together with their advisory board, they select the best ideas and innovations for validation and acceleration. See the proposal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdOgnwdLt2k

Ir a la APP
Privacy preferences center
Logo de REDONA Recuperación de frutas y verduras en Mercavalència UPV

When you visit any website, it may obtain or save information in your browser, generally through the use of cookies. This information may be about you, your preferences, or your device, and is mainly used to make the site work as expected. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

More information

Technical cookies

These are those that allow the user to navigate through a website, platform or application and the use of the different options or services that exist therein, such as, for example, controlling traffic and data communication, identifying the session, accessing restricted access parts, remembering the elements that make up an order, carrying out the purchase process of an order, making the request for registration or participation in an event, using security elements during navigation, storing content for the dissemination of videos or sound or sharing content through social networks.

Analysis or measurement cookies

These are those that allow the person responsible for them to monitor and analyze the behavior of the users of the websites to which they are linked. The information collected through this type of cookies is used to measure the activity of the websites, application or platform and to create navigation profiles of the users of said sites, applications and platforms, in order to introduce improvements based on the analysis of the data on the use made by the users of the service.