The Food Loss and Waste Prevention Unit of the Municipality of Halandri
Annually, 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or discarded to become waste.
The Municipality of Halandri has adopted the UN 12.3 strategic goal to reduce food loss by prevention and reuse (retail stores, food services, organizations, residents) as well as to divert food waste from landfilling by collection at the source and valorization to produce biofuels, energy, and compost. To achieve the stated aims the Municipality has founded the Food Loss and Waste Prevention Unit. The Unit has conducted extensive research on food waste in nurseries, in food retail shops and restaurants, as well as in households. The research included questionnaires, diaries (weighing and recording of food waste), as well as analysis of the composition of the brown bin, used for separate collection of food waste at the source.
The findings of the research are as follows:
In nurseries most food waste is plate leftovers. Serving nutritionally equivalent meals but more attractive for children, reduction of portions with repetition for those children who desire it, as well as educational initiatives may play a role in decreasing this waste.
In restaurants food waste is generated mainly during food preparation.
Regarding retail stores, staff training is regarded an extremely important measure to reduce losses.
Household waste surveys, diary monitoring and compositional analyses led to the conclusion that a sizable portion of the daily discarded edible food could have been avoided. Awareness raising and educational workshops may play a significant role towards the above-mentioned scope. The Municipality of Halandri has been actively engaging the society’ stakeholders in the mentioned activities, aiming to empower each actor towards food waste prevention.
In the upcoming months, the Food Loss and Waste Prevention Unit will seek and implement the best practices to prevent food waste in the framework of the EU funded Projects that the Municipality participates in (Horizon ToNoWaste, Horizon 2020 FoodRUs and Erasmus+ Food Connections).
TOWARDS A NEW ZERO FOOD WASTE MINDSET BASED ON HOLISTIC ASSESSMENT
Ongoing | 2022-2027
- Main funding source
- Horizon Europe (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Spain, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Greece