Two entities with the same name, ReFood, and the same mission: to drastically reduce the amount of food waste reaching landfills. One is a volunteer network operating in Portugal while the second is a company that helps recycle food waste in the United Kingdom.
The problem of food waste and food loss
‘If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.’ (1) In Europe alone, nearly 59 million tons of organic waste reached landfills in 2020, according to Eurostat data. With economic, environmental and social consequences. (2)
The inclusion of the decrease in FLW(Food loss and Waste) as one of the UN goals to be achieved by 2030 – SDG no. 12.3 (3.4)-caused numerous initiatives to arise on the subject. (5,6,7) These include two realities that share the same name, ReFood, and the same goal, through two different paths.
ReFood, the reality of volunteering in Portugal
ReFood in Portugal is a story of volunteerism that involves the entire community of the place where it is developed. It unites those who produce excess food and should throw it away, with those who need it. Citizens become agents of change: they turn ‘polluters into friends of the environment, exclusion into inclusion, food insecurity into stable nutrition, beneficiaries into volunteers, strangers into friends, and indifference into solidarity.’
Already, 60 centers have been established that distribute 150,000 meals a month, diverting 1,000 tons of organic waste from landfills each month. All this is done using existing means and involving volunteers for only two hours per week, making this model replicable from local to global.
In addition to developing a circular economy model, saving quality and safe food from the landfill, ReFood has a ripple effect on the other SDGs, such as helping families lift themselves out of poverty (No. 1), increasing health (No. 3) or engaging the community in sustainable and circular development goals (No. 4). The website outlines the steps to open a center in one’s own community, so far found only in Portugal but perhaps replicable in other countries. (8)
ReFood UK, from waste to resource
The name ReFood also identifies aBritish company that was founded with the mission of achieving the goal of ‘zero food waste in landfills by 2020,’ the year in which all landfills were expected to be occupied. As of the beginning of 2023, the website says, 943,572 tons of food have already been sent to landfills, which becomes 7.2 million tons in one year for a consideration of 12 billion pounds.
ReFood offers public and private companies alternatives to sending food to landfills by reducing their carbon footprint and disposal costs. Organic waste is recycled in their anaerobic digestion plants to create energy, or it is processed into ReGrow, a nutritious biofertilizer. To know how much energy and fertilizer can be created from our waste, there is a calculator on their site that also shows the CO2 emitted compared to the tons of waste produced. (9)
Alessandra Mei
Notes
(1) Quote from Inger Anderson, Executive Director United Nations Environment Programme in the opening of the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021. March 2021. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021
(2) Dario Dongo. Upcycling, the high road of research and innovation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.1.2023.
(3) FAO. Sustainable Development Goals. Indicator 12.3.i – Global Food Loss and Waste https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/1231/en/
(4) For an in-depth discussion of FLW and reduction targets, see the Feed Back EU report. No time to waste. https://bit.ly/3nje5Nh
(5) Dario Dongo. Sainsbury’s, UK, ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me. Fruits and vegetables in £2 boxes. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.2.2023
(6) Dario Dongo, Giulia Pietrollini. Reducing food waste, Coop Italia’s strategy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 21.2.2023.
(7) Marta Strinati. Too Good To GO, the performance of the app against food waste. 2.2.2023
(8) Steps to open a food collection and distribution center https://re-food.org/movimento/como-nasce-um-novo-nucleo/
(9) To calculate the value of our waste https://refood.co.uk/about-refood/savings-calculator/calculate/?option=option4
Graduated in Law from the University of Bologna, she attended the Master in Food Law at the same University. You participate in the WIISE srl benefit team by dedicating yourself to European and international research and innovation projects.
