Uppsala City Mission has taken an active role in Sweden's environmental goals to reduce food waste. Together with our partners, we have developed a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly recycling model. Instead of throwing away unsold food, a grocery store can donate the food to us – which in turn allows us to distribute it to people in vulnerability in Uppsala. We also work with the Swedish Public Employment Service and Uppsala municipality to get people who are far from the labour market into work training and help them back to work.

Every weekday, our volunteer drivers pick up grocery stores' food waste. Some of the food waste goes directly to our social activities Mikaelsgården , where support is given to people in homelessness. The remaining food waste is delivered to Matcentralen , which is Uppsala Stadsmission's central warehouse for handling functional food waste. On Matcentralen we convert food waste into grocery bags that we distribute to people who live in social and economic vulnerability.

Matkassen delas varje vecka ut till i snitt 280 hushåll, där ungefär vartannat hushåll av dessa utgörs av en barnfamilj. Personer med en inkomst mindre än 9 290 kr/månaden kan ansöka om att prenumerera på Matkassen. Priset är 250 kr och berättigar prenumeranten till uthämtning av en matkasse i veckan under ett halvårs tid.

The business idea is developed in close collaboration with researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the food industry.