The final REFRESH conference that took place on May 10, 2019 in the Disseny Hub Barcelona brought together 150 participants from all across Europe, China, Australia and the US to present and discuss innovative ideas for food waste reduction and valorisation options across the whole supply chain.
The final REFRESH workshop discussed options and recommendations to integrate policies for food waste in the broader contexts of sustainable food systems and the Circular Economy. Building on the results created within the REFRESH project, the workshop brought together policy makers and experts from research, NGOs and businesses to discuss EU policy options that go beyond efforts to reduce food waste and includes other sustainability aspects such as health and social impacts.
El 11 de diciembre de 2018 se celebró el 4º encuentro de la Plataforma REFRESH española en la sede de CREDA-UPC-IRTA en Barcelona. Teniendo en cuenta que quedan 6 meses para el final del proyecto, se presentaron los resultados más importantes del proyecto a nivel europeo y se hizo una evaluación de la evolución de la plataforma, que desarrolló 30 iniciativas en 2017.
On 11 December 2018 the 4th meeting of the Spanish REFRESH Platform was held at the headquarters of CREDA-UPC-IRTA in Barcelona. Taking into account that there are 6 months left until the end of the project, the most important results of the project at European level were presented and the evolution of the platform, that developed 30 initiatives in 2017, was evaluated.
A London schools programme aimed at instilling messages about healthy sustainable eating, preventing food waste and recycling unavoidable food waste, has been named one of the world’s ten most inspiring sustainability programmes for young people.
The campaign, Small Change Big Difference, is one of just ten educational programmes awarded this accolade as part of a global assessment conducted by education non-profit body HundrED.
This report examines and evaluates the availability and effectiveness of existing ICT-based tools and smart technologies for food management and waste reduction by consumers. It results that consumers seem to be interested in apps that help in reducing food waste, but do not perceive a clear need to use these as they think that they do not waste much food. Further, results of the study indicate that user-friendliness is a key component.
This research investigated the consumer understanding and acceptance of different valorisation methods for food surplus and side-flows. Of particular interest was the extent to which consumers accept and even appreciate products resulting from innovative waste valorisation processes. Results showed that although gleaning-based valorised products were deemed acceptable to be used within the setting of school lunches, the other valorisation methods were not, however, the participants did not view them as unsuitable for adult consumption.
Finicky eating habits and wasteful processes have led to a system that discards millions of tonnes of food each year, but new approaches are salvaging the scraps we never see to make products that people will want to eat. The EU Research & Innovation Magazine HORIZON published an article on how innovations from REFRESH and other projects offer different possibilities to valorise by-products from food production.
From the increasingly-popular OERei™ to Friendly Fish™ sustainable fish food and Bloosom™ soil improver, Protix are processing insects – cultivated on fruit and vegetable residues – into a wide variety of products. "And there are many more applications in the pipeline," says Tarique Arsiwalla, founder of one of the first 'insect factories' in the world and a member of the Taskforce Circular Economy in Food (TCEF). The Taskforce is one of four national platforms launched within the REFRESH project.
From a magic box which allows consumers to buy surplus food from shops and restaurants, to an exclusive liqueur made from recovered apples, Dutch start-up entrepreneurs are driven and creative in the fight against food waste. Four of them tell their stories.
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