Intel's orchard supplying fruits to Falling Fruit project

The Intel Ireland campus in Leixlip is home to a 300 year-old orchard which is located in the Western side of its site, adjoining a historical structure named Blakestown House and a special arboretum which contains every species of native Irish tree. The orchard is a much-treasured feature of the campus and contains a number of different apple trees which are ideal for harvest at this time of year when apples are ready to be plucked.

Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked and with this in mind ‘Falling Fruit’, an Urban Harvesting Project which was established in 2015, organises a team of volunteers who pick fruit and distribute it to local charities or other good causes. On Thursday 19th September a group of volunteers from Falling Fruit Ireland, together with some Intel employees, visited the orchard at Intel to pick apples which would go on to be donated to FoodCloud, a not-for-profit social enterprise that links businesses with surplus food to local charities and community groups through innovative technology.

Amongst the Falling Fruit Ireland volunteers visiting the Intel campus in Leixlip, was the organisation’s founder, Bernie Brannick, who said “In Ireland, we have thousands of fabulous apple trees all across the country which are not being used. Year on year, fresh juicy apples are wasted as we struggle to use such abundant harvests. Through donating your apples to Falling Fruit Ireland and FoodCloud, we will ensure these apples do not go to waste, by creating our refreshing Cloudy apple juice! With your donation, our apple juice will be distributed to all our charity partners and any additional juice used to help FoodCloud in our fight against food waste”.

"At Intel Ireland we have an active interest in protecting and restoring biodiversity and have put in place a dedicated biodiversity program which focuses on the many natural features which are present at our Leixlip campus. In 2017 we launched a biodiversity report capturing the history of biodiversity protection, enhancement, restoration and habitat creation on the Leixlip campus as well as broader environmental engagements and plans for the coming years. In 2018, Intel in collaboration with the three local Tidy Towns organisations in Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth, and St Patrick's College Maynooth, came together to publish a North Kildare Biodiversity Map. The publication of the map proudly marked the achievement of Intel becoming the first company in Ireland to use Business in the Community Ireland’s innovative Biodiversity Framework to shape its approach to biodiversity management.