Colette Rapp

In 2014, Colette Rapp threw her heart and soul into setting up Re-Belle, a premium jam- and chutney-making venture that uses unsold fruit and vegetables to reduce food waste and create jobs. One of the project’s driving forces was the prospect of using unexploited raw materials (unsold produce) to create local jobs for socially disadvantaged individuals and those looking to get back to work, in order to take sustainable action against economic hardship. The project was set up in Seine-Saint-Denis and aims to share professional expertise among local women. In 2015, the A Table Citoyens association provided Re-Belle with the legal framework it needed to try out manufacturing with trainee employees and to test its entire supply chain model, from collecting produce to selling its jams and chutneys. In 2016, manufacturing picked up speed and 35 different retail points were established.

Finally, in 2017, the Re-Belle association was set up to run its activities independently, creating a return-to-work programme specifically for this purpose.

The project aims to create a positive end-to-end chain that uses surplus produce, thus saving 25 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per year from waste – a figure that corresponded to the excess produce of 20 supermarkets in Paris and the neighbouring towns of Seine-Saint-Denis in 2018 – by signing formal partnerships with food distribution groups and by educating Re-Belle customers via awareness-building activities on resource recovery and optimisation.