Partnership Between MSD Switzerland and Madame Frigo
February 21, 2023 6:00 am ET
Lucerne, February 21, 2023 – MSD Switzerland and Madame Frigo Join Forces to Fight Food Waste
In line with its commitment to sustainability, MSD Switzerland (Merck, Sharp & Dohme AG), which has offices in Lucerne and Zürich, is teaming up with non-profit organization Madame Frigo from 2023 to combat food waste. MSD Switzerland will primarily be supporting the running of two public fridges (frigos) in the city of Lucerne.
According to estimates, 250 grams of food are thrown out per person every day in Switzerland.
That equates to a plate of spaghetti every day. Food waste not only includes food itself, but also all the resources used to produce it, such as farmland, water, fossil fuels, and electricity. Numerous resources have already been consumed before the food even makes it into our homes. This means the waste is even greater when valuable food in our homes ends up in the trash instead of on our table. Food waste is responsible for around a quarter of environmental pollution caused by the food system across Switzerland.
In order to save as much of this food as possible from being thrown away early, Madame Frigo has been setting up public fridges (frigos) in various Swiss cities since 2015. They serve as free sharing platforms for food, which would otherwise have ended up going to waste. The company has over 100 fridges, which are set up and managed by volunteer helpers who between them volunteer more than 20,000 hours of their time each year. As a result, a total of over 150 metric tonnes of still-edible food is estimated to have been saved in the past year. Along with many private individuals, the work of Madame Frigo is supported by strong partners.
Our dietary habits not only influence our personal health, but they also have a direct impact on the environment and our society. Having a sustainable diet therefore not only means looking after your health, but it also means making an effort to handle food in an environmentally friendly manner, with a view to saving resources.
MSD not only sees it as its obligation to find innovative solutions for health problems around the world, but also to take responsibility for the environment, society, and its employees in line with a global Corporate Responsibility approach. – MSD Switzerland has therefore been part of Madame Frigo’s partner network to combat food waste since January 2023.
As a partner for the two fridges at the locations at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts/HSLU (address: Werftestrasse 1, 6005 Lucerne) and in the Tribschen district (address: Anna-Neumann-Gasse 5, 6005 Lucerne), MSD is supporting the work of Madame Frigo in the city of Lucerne, with the aim being to save as much food as possible from going to waste. As well as directly supporting the fridge locations, the aim is also to raise awareness among the employees of MSD Switzerland. The partnership between MSD Switzerland and Madame Frigo thus contributes to more sustainable behavior with food in the long term.
Table not trash:
Many thanks to everyone who takes action to help reduce food waste!
Your support is welcome!
Would you like to set up and manage a community fridge on your property or in your district? If so, then send your proposal to info@madamefrigo.ch
MSD Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Switzerland:
In Switzerland, MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme employs around 1,000 people at five sites in the cantons of Lucerne and Zurich. At our site in Zurich, in “The Circle”, we operate the newly opened global innovation and development hub. Our main therapeutic areas are oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, and diabetes. We also operate a broad portfolio of vaccines for the prevention of diseases in children, adolescents, and adults. Switzerland is part of MSD’s global clinical research program with more than 43 clinical trials annually. At our site in Schachen, we manufacture drugs for global clinical trials and operate a forensic laboratory. MSD also takes local responsibility for the community and has been involved in the «Trendtage Gesundheit Luzern» and the «Alliance Health competence». In 2023, MSD received the «Top Employer Switzerland» award for the eleventh time in a row.
For more information, please visit msd.ch, de.msd-animal-health.ch and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
About Madame Frigo:
Madame Frigo is a non-profit organization that is working to combat food waste in Switzerland and promotes adopting a more conscious approach to food in private households. In order to achieve this, Madame Frigo provides public fridges to the Swiss population for sharing food. The organization currently provides over 100 fridges, which are set up and managed by volunteer helpers. At the same time, we implement various measures to raise awareness on the topic of food waste and take part in events and campaigns.
Media department MSD Switzerland
Jean-Blaise Defago (Policy & Communications Director)
media.switzerland@msd.com | Tel. 058 618 30 30
Madame Frigo
Marilen Zosso, Management Madame Frigo, +41 41 521 32 20
MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme AG I Werftestrasse 4 I CH-6005 Luzern
Copyright © 2023 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
CH-NON-02061, 01/2023
