Business against food waste collaborates with European week for waste reduction

The Business Against Food Waste campaign is collaborating with this year’s edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR 2020). This week is an EU-wide initiative encouraging stakeholders to organise awareness-raising activities on sustainable resource use and waste management.

Business Against Food Waste brings together local stakeholders wishing to raise awareness on the issue of food waste globally, and especially in Malta. This campaign is targeted at businesses and their employees, presenting some useful tips and information on how we can all help reduce our food waste levels.

Discussing the campaign, Malta Business Bureau (MBB) CEO Joe Tanti said “the MBB has been working strongly on sustainable development for over 10 years now, particularly in the areas of water conservation and energy efficiency in industry. Last year we saw the opportunity to move into the area of food waste reduction, first focusing on restaurant kitchens. However, we quickly understood that restaurants can only do so much to reduce their waste levels, and a lot of waste is stemming from the consumer side. That is when we approached local stakeholders, namely the HSBC Malta CSR Institute, Institute of Tourism Studies, the Malta Tourism Authority and Wasteserv to seek ways to collaborate.

Gabriel Cassar, MBB’s project manager responsible for the Business Against Food Waste campaign then went on to discuss the main activities. “We started off the campaign working with the HSBC Malta CSR Institute to organise a series of information and awareness-raising seminars targeting employees. These included sessions delivered by professionals in the field, each tackling food waste from a different perspective – composting food scraps, rethinking the way we buy food, tips to reduce or reuse leftovers, and so on. During the EWWR we are reliving some of the useful tips through a series of short social media infographics.”

Food waste has gained a lot of attention globally due to its significant environmental, economic and social impact. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, we are throwing away roughly 1/3 of all food produced. Aside from the obvious resource and financial waste involved, food waste is also estimated to contribute towards 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The international community has stepped up its efforts to reduce global food waste levels. One of the targets (12.3) of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to halve per capita food waste by the year 2030. On its part, the European Commission adopted the same commitment through its 2015 Circular Economy Action Plan.

Now in 2020, the EU’s Green Deal and its Farm 2 Fork strategy recognise the importance of reducing food waste levels to achieve a green and sustainable EU food system. The EU pledges to set binding food waste reduction targets on its member states, requiring a concerted effort from government, businesses, citizens and all stakeholders to achieve tangible results.

The EWWR 2020 is running between 21st and 29th November. If you’d like to learn more about the Business Against Food Waste campaign or get involved, then contact MBB Executive Gabriel Cassar on gcassar@mbb.org.mt.

The Business Against Food Waste campaign is led by the Malta Business Bureau, in collaboration with the HSBC Malta CSR Institute and ITS, and with the support of Wasteserv, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry for Tourism.