Project Wasteless’ visit at Univeresity of Deusto in Bilbao
Researchers from the European project FOODRUS, which aims to develop an innovative collaborative circular food system to reduce waste and loss of food throughout the agri-food chain (from farm to the fork), met on the 12th, 13th and 14th of September at the Bilbao campus of the University of Deusto. This was the first blended meeting within the 42-months project, financed by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 programme, and coordinated by the University of Deusto through an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Faculty of Engineering, Law and Health Sciences. 29 partners from 10 different EU countries and from different types of organizations, such as companies, academic and research institutions, participate in the project.
FOODRUS is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular with SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and production patterns, as it seeks to create resilient local food systems in Europe, through circular solutions that prevent food losses and food waste. The project is testing 23 circular solutions to limit food loss and food waste, along three food chains: vegetables and prepared salads (Spain), meat and fish (Denmark) and bread (Slovenia). To promote the replicability of the tested solutions, FOODRUS will prepare a kit of good practices involving six European regions as “Followers”, to replicate and adapt those solutions in Timosoara (Romania), Budapest (Hungary represented by the food waste prevention programme of the National Food Chain Safety Office,Project Wasteless), Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Halandri (Greece), Arnhem-Nijmegen (The Netherlands), Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Catalonia (Spain).
The project is expected to generate a significant social impact not only in the food loss and waste system, but also in the reference socio-economic environment, through new regional strategies, business creation and poverty reduction. In the words of Ainhoa Alonso, “the proposed solutions will enable the training and involvement of all the actors in the local food system (from the countryside to final consumers, as well as the public administration, waste managers, SMEs and financial organisations), creating a sense of community and alliance of actors to address the challenge of food loss and waste”.
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