Wasteless, Nebih’s food waste prevention programme, turned five in 2021. The celebration was scheduled for 29 September, for the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste by the Office.
On this occasion, a social media challenge was announced under the title ‘I am not going to be waste! with prize game. The aim of the challenge was multiplying the effect of individuals’ efforts to decrease food waste with the power of community by making as many people as possible familiar with the problems and possible solutions.
Food waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues of our time. Even though the problem affects the whole food chain, households are responsible for more than the half of the food waste in developed countries. One of the sustainable development goals, published by UN in 2016, aims to halve the food waste generated by households by 2030. Although the yearly amount of food discarded per capita reduced by 4% in Hungary between 2016 and 2019 (from 68 kg to 65 kg), to reach the target we need to make further serious efforts.
What’s more, half of the food discarded could be avoided. Converted into cash it means that an average Hungarian household of 4 people wastes 128.000 forints of food per year. The biggest part of it is cooked food (13,7 kg), the most energy-intensive category. Cooked food is followed by fruits and vegetables (5,9 kg) and bakery products (5,3 kg).
Raising the awareness of young generations about food waste prevention is one of the most effective ways of reducing food loss. This has been a priority for Nébih for the past 5 years: the staff of Wasteless held awareness-raising activities for more than 10.000 children in person. In addition, the knowledge base related to the activities has been made available in the form of a highly diverse educational toolkit (activity booklets, presentations, animated videos, online lessons) by the Office, which is freely accessible to anyone.
Another important target group is the adult population, who has essential role in shaping the habits of future generations. The challenge ‘I am not going to be waste!’, took place from 29 September to 16 October, aimed at this group. Programme staff motivated everybody to share own food waste prevention practices with friends and acquaintances during the two-week-period of the challenge ‘I am not going to be waste!’. Inspiration could be found on ‘Wasteless’ social media platforms in form of informative graphics and tips. Furthermore, posts with playing opportunities as Food waste BINGO, were available.
Prize game under this challenge created opportunities for the players to score points with the activities defined in the game rules. The more points the player collected, the more types of prizes were available. Prizes were drawn at the end of the game. Additional points could be earned, if players invited other people to take part in the game, or shared their own favourite leftover saver recipe, or applied for Nébih’s 3rd household food waste measurement campaign. Participation was connected to registration. Shared posts had to include #nemleszekszemét and @maradéknelkül.
We consider the event to be very successful. About 50 people participated in the prize game. We have gained more than 200 new followers and achieved almost 50.000 reaches on our social media platforms.
More information about food waste and food waste prevention are available on the website of ‘Wasteless’: https://maradeknelkul.hu/
Social media platforms of ‘Wasteless’: