WRAP has a new plan to reduce food waste in London. The UK charity has long been at the forefront of the fight against food waste by creating and implementing food waste reduction strategies that have been adopted by countless organizations and businesses. However, their new plan is innovative in its intention to combine food waste reduction, promote food recycling while encouraging healthy eating. TRiFOCUL, or Transforming City FOod hAbits for Life, is a £3.2 million project that will begin this September and will run for three years. WRAP hopes to prevent food waste and encourage healthy eating by influencing consumer behaviour and attitudes towards food preparation and purchasing. TRiFOCUL will use a variety of techniques to reach the public, including events, advertising and direct communication with residents.
Londoners waste about 900 000 tonnes of food each year, about 540 000 tonnes of which is avoidable. With this new initiative, WRAP hopes to help Londoners save around £330 million worth of food yearly.
“We want to help Londoners consume food more sustainably, save money and get a bit healthier by doing it, and then use their food recycling services more effectively” said Antony Buchan, Head of Programme at Resource London. “TRiFOCAL will build on the work we’ve done with Recycle for London and the Little Wins Love Food Hate Waste campaign. It delivers an exciting new chapter in making the capital greener.”
Copenhagen has introduced a new, mandatory system of household food waste separation. By providing all households, regardless of size or location, with a bucket and biodegradable bags, the city hopes to reduces the amount of food that ends up in landfills. Previously, participation in food waste separation was voluntary and residences were not provided with buckets or bags.
The separated food waste will be collected by city workers and processed at a biogas plant. The byproduct will then be used as fertilizer on farmer’s fields. City officials are confident that the new plan will be readily accepted among Copenhagen residences, as Danish people are already very environmentally aware. Many people separate food waste already without any forceful regulations.
Morten Kabell, the city’s deputy mayor for technical and environmental issues, told Danish news site CPH Post that “Copenhageners are very good at taking responsibility for the environment and climate. We see that with all the people riding their bicycles to work in the wind and rain. So I think we can get a lot of Copenhageners to sort more of their waste if we make it simple and manageable for them.”
Spain has made progress in closing food cycle gaps by stopping food waste at its source. The social organization “Espigoladors“, or gleaners, recruit volunteers to harvest rejected farm produce, which is then donated to food banks. Those volunteers who already use food banks are allowed to take home a box of their harvest at the end of the day. Gleaning has long been a tradition in Spanish culture: it is understood to uphold the dignity of the poor by providing them a job of harvesting crops and allowing them to take home a part of their harvest as payment. In modern day Spain, this old practice has been revived and may prove to be effective in feeding the hungry while reducing food waste.
A lot of preventable food waste occurs on farms, where rejected fruits and vegetables are left to rot because of strict aesthetic standards set by grocery chains. However, donating the produce or selling to a different buyer can be expensive or logistically challenging for farmers who often do not have the resources to carry out food-rescue programs. Volunteer programs such as the Espigoladors are needed to move food from the farm to those in need.
In addition to redirecting rejected produce to food banks, the Espigoladors have started a line of products called “Es Imperfect” (Is Imperfect) of jams, soups and sauces made from rescued produce. The label has seen incredible success and the company is looking to expand further.
From discount surplus food stores to hosting the Green Growth Forum in their capital city, Denmark has established itself as a world leader in the global fight against food waste. The country has more initiatives to reduce food waste than any other European nation, which have all contributed to a 25% reduction of food waste over the past few years. Their success is largely due to the grassroots initiative Stop Spild Af Mad or, Stop Wasting Food, a NGO founded by Danish graphic designer Selina Juul. The group aims to educate consumers on the impacts of food waste as well as bring media attention to the issue, through campaigning and being active in policy making. One particularly successful campaign tackled the issue of “UFOs” or “Unidentified Frozen Objects”.
Speaking to The Guardian, Juul said “we ran a campaign about having a clearout once a month to eat your UFOs…We also promoted ‘Sunday leftover tapas’, and the idea that if you’re going away, you give your neighbour everything in your fridge – and they do the same for you.”
Juul also campaigned, and was largely successful, in breaking the stigma associated with asking for doggy bags at restaurants. The practice was previously unpopular among Danes who were embarrassed to be taking home the leftovers, as their name implies the food is only good enough for a dog. Over the years, Stop Spild Af Mad has worked to rebrand them as “goody bags”
Image: Bo Welfare via The Guardian
Stop Spild Af Mad has also partnered with Bo Welfare, a social housing organization in the Danish city of Horsens. They have worked together to establish a pop-up shop where customers pay 20 Kroners (about $3.90 CAD) for a reusable bag, then fill it with any amount of surplus produce from the store shelves.
Another prominent organization in the food waste revolution is WeFood, Denmark’s first surplus grocery store that sells food originally destined for the trash, for 30-50% cheaper. The store has been a huge success partly due to its intentional resistance to being branded a charity. Anyone, from all walks of life can buy the discounted fruits and vegetables. This removes the stigma associated with going to a food bank and allows people from all socioeconomic backgrounds to benefit from inexpensive, healthy produce- all while reducing food waste.
A UK add for the Too Good to Go app
A startup company that has seen amazing success in fighting food waste is Too Good To Go, an app that connects users with leftover foods from all-you-can-eat buffets, which are popular among Danes. The app has now spread to 9 countries, prevented about 200 tonnes of carbon emissions by redirecting food waste and has provided thousands of meals to those in need.
Denmark is making big moves in the fight against food waste. It appears that all of the food waste organizations are taking a bottom-up approach to the issue and are working towards shifting society’s relationship with food from away from indifference and towards one that is more positive and conscientious. As a majority of food waste occurs in the household, these grassroots movements are exactly what is needed to end food waste and create a sustainable food system!
As we have been reporting in previous weeks, many countries in the European Union have been several steps to reduce food waste, primarily at the legislative level . France has opted for the “stick” approach, fining retailers for dumping instead of donating, while Italy has plans of a more “carrot” nature, with more incentives to retailers to donate rather than the fines.
Now Denmark is continuing to push boundaries by opening a new surplus food grocery store aimed at the general public. It’s called WeFood and it opened last month in Copenhagen. Food at the store is nearing or past its expiry date. The food is donated and the shop is run by volunteers. Profits from the food sold go to anti-hunger organizations all over the world.
You can read more about WeFood and what Denmark is planning for the future here.
From NPR: “A crowd waits on the sidewalk for the WeFood grocery store in Copenhagen to open. It’s not the first grocer in Europe to sell surplus food. But unlike so-called “social supermarkets” — stores that serve almost exclusively low-income people — WeFood’s offerings are very intentionally aimed at the general public. DanChurchAid”
The Italian parliament will be considering a law to make it easier for grocery stores to donate food, rather than putting it in the trash. Read more here.
The bill will focus on incentives for retailers, unlike the similar law passed in France that uses heavy fines to ensure compliance.
The Italian law will be read in parliament next Monday (March 21).
In July, we wrote about French Councillor Arash Derambarsh’s efforts to lead the way in food waste reduction for the EU. Last week his efforts paid off, at least for the country of France. French grocery stores that are 400 square meters or larger are now required by law to donate all of their excess food to either food banks or charities, or run the risk of being considerably fined. Furthermore, supermarkets are now banned from tampering with food they put in bins: previously either bleached, locked up, or otherwise rendered inedible. Finally, the law has relaxed restrictions on donations that can come directly from factories, eliminating much of the red tape in the process.
Councillor Derambarsh hopes French President Hollande is willing to take the rest of the EU to task on the issue of food waste, using France as an example.
The small city of Galdakao (just outside of Bilbao, Spain) has come up with a creative solution for tackling food waste, using a communal fridge where anyone can leave or take food. The goal is not to provide charity, although providing food to the food insecure is one benefit. The primary goal is to deal with excess food. Now restaurants and citizens can leave extra food in the fridge, following some basic rules in order to maintain food safety, and anyone at all is welcome to take food from the fridge. The fridge sits on the pavement with a small fence around it to ensure it’s not mistaken for a rejected appliance.Volunteers are in place to remove any food that sits in the fridge too long, though so far nothing has had to be tossed because the food has such high turnover. It took some time to get the project up and running – especially getting city approval and a public space to use – but it seems to be proving a success, despite some initial hesitancy in the community. Already, two to three hundred kilos of food have been saved from being trash. The project was inspired by a similar initiative in Berlin and now there’s already talk of a second fridge in Galdakao and a similar project in the city of Murcia. Now I just wish there was one in Guelph…
By Samantha Pascoal, Applied Human Nutrition Student & Research Assistant
Paris, a romantic metropolis known for its croissants, La Seine and the Eiffel tower will hopefully soon be known for its forward-thinking Climate and Energy Action Plan implemented in 2007. The plan has ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, and also calls for increased use of renewable energy. Parisian residents, restaurants, and industries have adopted sustainable consumption strategies that generate less waste in order to achieve these goals.
Creating a more sustainable food system, and thus a more circular economy, has been an instrumental strategy. This has involved…
A Sustainable Food Plan, which promotes sustainable food products (organic, in-season and local) agriculture in municipal and departmental restaurants;
Consideration of the creation of a central purchasing office for large industries, to help them find reliable sources of innovative products that have sustainable life cycles;
The shortening of supply chains, making local food a reality in Paris; and
A Local Waste Prevention Programme (PLPD) that reduces household waste: working toward a 15% reduction from 2007 levels by 2020.
What are Parisian residents and stakeholders encouraged to do to ensure future progress? To tackle the high levels of preventable wastes such as food and packaging, the Paris PLPB proposes a suite of strategies:
Educating citizens about their waste production;
Promoting the purchase of minimally-packaged products (tap water, bulk food);
Encouraging citizens to deal with toxic, electronic, and medical wastes responsibly through the comprehensive hazardous wastes management stream; and
Demonstrating good practices by improving practices by Paris administration.
Other metropolises around the world could learn and benefit from similar procedures.
Positive and dramatic change has already been observed as a result of the implementation of these strategies. For example, atmospheric pollution from food waste decreased from 521,000 to 484,000 (Tonnes C02 equivalent) between 2004 and 2009. A total reduction of 35 kg of household and similar waste per resident was seen between 2006-2010, compared with the 23 kg per resident reduction expected within that time. Overall, the Climate and Energy Action Plan has overseen the reduction in general greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption in Paris, and an increase in used renewable energy sources. The case in Paris shows that by focusing on decreasing waste and re-formatting food systems, the human impact on the environment can be considerably reduced.
Organic waste is being addressed in Mediterranean nations as a group of experts created and signed a manifesto outlining strategies for transforming food waste management in the region. The document acknowledges reduction as the priority in dealing with organic waste, but also selective collection and recycling, redefinition of infrastructures, regional cooperation and monitoring, communication, and sharing of good practices.
The Manifesto was created by a working group of stakeholders and experts in the field of bio-waste and waste management through SCOW (Selective Collection of Organic Waste in tourist areas) at a technical workshop hosted by BCNecologia on February 25, 2015. The Manifesto is open for signatures by Mediterranean stakeholders such as businesses, NGOs and politicians or individuals. The project is funded in a large part by the European Union through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument.
The project seeks to define a creative and sustainable management system for organic waste, which will involve a collection and recycling system that is inexpensive, technically simple and of high quality (including the creation of small scale composting plants located near the areas where the waste is produced and the finished compost can then be used). The Manifesto is major step toward improving policy, and hopefully it translates to successful cooperation and a real commitment to improving waste management impacting policy in Mediterranean states.
Guelph Food Waste Research Project 