Launched in March 2022 as a trial, the partnership between the airport and the charity founded by Coluche has been a great success. A first in France, this unprecedented initiative allows travellers to donate products prohibited in the cabin to Restos du Cœur. It will now be continued and expanded to all terminals at the airport.
In March 2022, for the first time in an airport, passengers were offered the opportunity to donate items removed from their cabin baggage due to current air transport security restrictions to Restos du Cœur. Initially trialled on a few lines in the Terminal 2 screening area, the initiative was then expanded. Over the course of 8 months more than 20,000 products, both food and other goods, were collected and offered to the charity's beneficiaries. Buoyed by this success and with a view to prolonging its impact, Nice Côte d'Azur Airport decided to expand the partnership to include Terminal 1.
For François Chantrait, head of communications at Restos du Cœur 06, "this partnership is a great opportunity. The recovered products are a welcome addition to the weekly box we offer to people in need: delicatessen, hygiene and cosmetic products, various desserts, etc. It's a little "bonus" that is appreciated when day-to-day life is difficult for those most vulnerable. It is also a virtuous partnership in terms of sustainable waste management. In other words, this good deed is also a positive action for the planet. ”
For the Nice airport operator, this initiative has had several immediate benefits. Cabin baggage inspections take place in a calm atmosphere, as travellers are much more willing to see their confiscated products donated than destroyed. Furthermore, travellers express sincere satisfaction at the idea of doing a good deed for those in need, turning their passage through the airport into a moment of unexpected solidarity. Finally, for the airport and all its staff, it is a great source of pride to have set up such a relevant and unprecedented system to help the growing number of people seeking help.
"Although we had to overcome certain obstacles, particularly logistical ones, we can only be proud of this partnership with Restos du Cœur. Every year we have to collect of hundreds of thousands of objects and consumer products and dispose of them so they can be destroyed. At a time when waste is unacceptable and when, unfortunately, a growing number of people must choose between housing and food, we owe it to our region and to the people of the Côte d'Azur to expand our system of recovery and donation," explains Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur.
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport and SSP France are particularly pleased and proud to inaugurate the ‘Bagnard’ restaurant on the land side of Terminal 2 in collaboration with Yoni Saada, the maestro of Mediterranean cuisine.
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