How to reduce food waste

"How to reduce food waste" is a project developed by Giulia Ferrari, Silvia Ferrari, Consuelo Farè and Silvia Medelin after having participated in the "IYELabs: Inclusive Youth Environments" training course, which was implemented in Trento by our association from October to December 2019. The IYELabs international project is co-funded by the Erasmus + program and is implemented in collaboration with associations from Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Italy and Belgium.

One of the objectives of the project "How to reduce food waste" is to raise awareness among people, particularly among the university students,  on the issue of conscious food consumption, contributing to the achievement of goal 12 "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns", in particular to the target 12.3: "By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses"

The four young students, with the support of the NEST student residence, created a series of informative materials on food waste that were placed in the students' rooms in the residence. Following a survey they did to the students, the girls found out that:

  • A lot of food goes to waste in the university canteen because they either don't like the food or the portions are too large.
  • 52 out of 61 respondents throw away food, especially fruit, vegetables, dairy products and bread because they are pass their expiration date or there are the leftovers from meals

Statistics show that one third of the world's food is wasted, an amount equal to 1.3 billion tons. To help reduce food waste and help students develop sustainable habits, the girls created a brochure with tips on "How to reduce food waste in rooms, kitchenettes and apartments".