At the 3rd annual General Council Meeting (GCM), partners presented and discussed results from each of the parts of the project. The meeting marked the end of year two of the project, with two more years to go. As such, it provided a good opportunity to review what has been achieved in the first half of the project, and look forward to how these results can be used and built on in the second half. The meeting also provided the space for partners to review and give feedback on project results and provide recommendations for how to transfer results, knowledge, experience, and networks between partners and areas of work.

Partners presented and discussed the following topics:

• Preliminary results of surveys on consumer behaviour in the REFRESH pilot countries and an inventory of food waste apps
• Progress in the National Pilot Working Platforms and next steps in developing a Blueprint for national Frameworks for Action on food waste
• Launch of the REFRESH Community of Experts: an EU-wide platform for knowledge exchange on food waste
• Results of food waste driver system mapping
• Interim results of an EU policy screening and a review of national policy in selected areas relevant to food waste
• Behavioural economic models for analysis of consumer and company behaviour and implications for policy
• Consultation on a tool for assessing the impacts and costs of side flows from food production
• Plans for upcoming case studies evaluating life cycle assessment and life cycle costing 
• Progress on food waste evaluation in China, including a literature review and field surveys in restaurants and school canteens
• Updates on the development of innovative products for valorisation of unavoidable food waste
• Training for partners on writing and communication skills
• Presentation of the communication activities of the project and their impact, including the school food waste solution contest in China
• Updates on internal project management topics

Published results from the first year can be found on the Results page of the REFRESH website, which is updated constantly.

Catering for the event was provided by Charity Kitchen, a pilot project from the Hungarian National Pilot Working Platform. Thanks to innovations within the pilot project, a waste ratio of 7.9% was reached for the event, which is lower than typical caterings. Detailed information about the pilot project and what measures they take to reduce catering waste is available in the attached description document.