Foodbank Maastricht: a community worth sustaining, despite the municipality’s failure to recognise its value

Uniting food and community, Foodbank is a space full of inspiration. Located at Landbouwbelang (also known as LBB), the coolest non-profit organisation in the Maastricht region promotes sustainability by raising awareness about unnecessary food waste and actively reducing it.

Foodbank is a place where everyone is welcome, and where people come together not only to save food and share it with others, but also to cook and enjoy delicious meals made from perfectly good food that would otherwise have been wasted. The space invites creativity and a good spirit, and its fridges, freezers and display surfaces are always filled with an outstanding amount of yogurt, milk, cakes, bread, vegetables and fruits, as well as cooked meals during various events.

The Foodbank’s impact

This unique and essential environmental and social initiative benefits the city in many ways. Besides raising awareness about the consequences of unnecessary food waste and climate responsibility through food giveaway events, they also organise educational workshops, among which the most prominent is Wednesday’s Sustainability Dinner, where all participants jointly cook delicious vegan meals.

If you are a student like me, I know you love a cheap dinner - Wednesday’s dinners at Foodbank are free; however, everyone is asked to help out with chopping vegetables, cooking and cleaning. In essence, going to the Foodbank is an extremely easy way to create a positive impact not just for yourself, but also more broadly: you save money and the planet by eating healthy food and reducing the greenhouse gases that correspond to 5% of the total GHG, or 8.8 Mton CO2-eq per year in the Netherlands.

I spoke with Borut Vovsek, the coordinator of the Foodbank Maastricht initiative and chairman of the EcoSocial Lab Foundation, which provides the legal umbrella for all activities. The foundation is also an official partner of the European Climate Pact - one of only six organisations in the Netherlands with this status. He provided critical insights into the relationship between the foundation and the municipality.

According to him, Foodbank collects and redistributes between 1,500 and 2,000 kg of food per week. Last year, the initiative collected around 60,000 kg of food, and this year it is on track to reach between 90,000 and 100,000 kg, reflecting its rapidly growing impact. As a zero-waste initiative, Foodbank helps the municipality reduce waste management costs and significantly contributes to its goal of becoming a zero-waste city.

The municipality’s contradictory standpoint

At first glance, it would seem logical for the municipality to support an initiative that has been active for over 13 years and whose impact is continuously growing year by year. However, that is unfortunately not the case. By replacing LBB and Foodbank - spaces that promote affordable culture, social activities and sustainability in general - the municipality seems to value the economic benefits of a new luxury urban development over investing in a sustainable, culturally diverse, and affordable city.

The city is set to approve yet another expensive project aimed at higher-income groups, while at the same time citing a lack of budget to support Foodbank. The redevelopment project in question, which will replace the current LBB and force all initiatives to move away, is called The M and will include a luxurious building complex, with many apartments being offered for purchase at around 2 million EUR, as well as a business department of Zuyd University. This will not only change the entire identity of the location, but it will also fail to fulfil the promise of cultural use. What was originally supposed to be 10,000 sqm allocated to Zuyd University for cultural functions of the Zuyd Theatre Academy and Maastricht Conservatory, according to the initial project proposal, will now be reduced to just 1,000 sqm for all cultural activities at the location.

Foodbank Maastricht and the EcoSocial Lab Foundation aim to become a regional centre for the sustainable management of the food chain, as the issue must be solved regionally instead of solely local. This would include an education centre for sustainability. With the knowledge and experience they have built over the years, Foodbank Maastricht already demonstrates the potential to play a key role in this transition - and it is up to the city to recognise this value and assist in achieving a long-term solution that is accessible to all citizens and able to host a variety of activities.

Borut explained that they acquired all the equipment and developed the space using their own resources, and that despite collecting and distributing large amounts of food every year, the initiative has received no structural support from the municipality. Instead, it has faced setbacks such as the municipality’s withdrawal of the De Griend location and the proposal of three alternative locations that failed to provide a long-term solution, allow the initiative to deliver its envisioned services, or be easily accessible to the majority of the city’s population. The EcoSocial Lab Foundation is currently exploring the possibility of relocating to one of the church spaces that the local church plans to vacate.

The phenomenon of gentrification

A common recurring urban problem in Maastricht is gentrification, and it is what is happening here once again. Gentrification happens when a neighbourhood increasingly receives outside investments, raising property values and rents. As a result, this displaces lower-income residents once they can no longer afford to live there.

Sadly, the whole Boschstraatkwartier has been gentrified; now they will destroy what is left of the heart of Maastricht’s alternative culture: LBB. According to Borut Vovsek, eviction of LBB initiatives now largely depends on the municipality granting reconstruction permits for the new project, which is likely to happen in 2026.

Hope dies last

Although it may seem hopeless to continue supporting a cause whose future is uncertain, as supporters of alternative cultural spaces, we need to keep their heritage and history alive for as long as possible. If this resonates with you and you are ready to take a step further, you are invited to volunteer with Foodbank. As a volunteer, you can help with many food pickups throughout the week, assist with cooking delicious vegan meals on Wednesdays, or help organise the two food giveaways on Monday and Friday. There is, of course, also an opportunity to propose new social events related to food, sustainability and affordable culture. Together, you help keep both our community and environment healthy and strong.

The redevelopment of LBB shows why we must not only resist the loss of our free cultural spaces, but also actively support and protect them from being replaced by developments that primarily benefit the wealthier parts of society.