EWWR will take part on October 29 in the Interreg Webinar Series on Waste Reduction: www.interregeurope.eu, in Webinar III, dedicated to food.

ACR+ will present the campaign, focusing in particular on the 2024 edition, which was focused to food waste. We’ll also share good practice examples on reducing this type of waste, taken from last year’s finalist actions.

We invite you to join us and discover other Interreg projects working to fight food waste.

Register now!

On average, each European citizen produces nearly half a tonne of municipal waste each year. The EU aims to significantly decrease this by 2030 but latest trends show that per capita waste generation has remained near stable for the past decade. To rectify this, the EU supports a defined waste hierarchy featuring waste prevention as the number one priority.

Increased action to reduce waste – prevention measures as well as strategies to manage and minimise existing waste – is urgently needed not only to achieve targets, but also to protect our environment, conserve resources, and promote sustainable development. Economically, waste reduction can also lower costs for businesses and public authorities while promoting innovation in recycling and sustainable product design.

Regional authorities are key actors for waste management and can actively support waste reduction by establishing prevention policies and targets, adopting green public procurement and encouraging citizen participation via awareness raising campaigns. This webinar series will provide inspiration for implementing waste reduction in three sectors deemed a priority by the EU Circular Economy Action Plan.

Globally, around one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. At the same time, over 42 million people in the EU cannot afford a quality meal every second day. To tackle this issue, binding food waste reduction targets have been set by the EU: 10% in food processing and manufacturing and 30% in retail, restaurants, food services and households by 2030. The third and final webinar in the series will present exemplary actions to support food waste reduction and foster redistribution of ‘waste’ food.

What to expect

Introduction to food production and platform resources in the area

Keynote: Lessons from the EWWR for Food Waste Reduction

by Ernest Kovács, ACR+ Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management

Presentation of Interreg Europe good practices

• Prevention of biowaste campaign + Master composters 

by Kristof Van Stichelen, Vlaco (Belgium), CORE 

• Cluj Food Bank 

by ​​​​​​Andreea Loredana Rhazzali, Institute for Research in Circular Economy and Environment „Ernest Lupan” (Romania), CEI BOOST 

• Food waste as food aid 

by Jenni Rahkonen, City of Lahti (Finland), CITISYSTEM 

These presentations will be followed by a roundtable and conclusions.