Hanneke accidentally took over the running of a weekly soup kitchen in Krugersdorp West in 2015 – where she first encountered the diabolical extent of food waste.

Out of this, NOSH Food Rescue NPC was born – a growing non-profit social enterprise which collects and redistributes food surplus from different sources ranging from the retail sector to agriculture. NOSH is an Associate Signatory to the CGCSA-led SA Food Loss and Waste Initiative and Hanneke is currently launching NOSH in Botswana.

At the beginning of the first Covid-19 Lockdown in April 2020, Hanneke founded a new non-profit, ‘Chefs with Compassion’, engaging chefs and the then-paralysed hospitality industry to utilise food surplus to cook nutritious meals for those in need.

A long-time environmental activist, Hanneke is a member of Slow Food International and started the Slow Food ‘Food Waste Warriors’ community to broaden discussions on issues surrounding waste, hunger and food justice in general.

She is also involved in various permaculture, community garden, homesteading, self-sufficiency and sustainability initiatives, often meshing with the aims of NOSH, which are to use existing surplus produce to make good quality nutrition accessible to those who need it most.