Cross-country comparison shows: Baselining on the right track

Feedback by the British project partner WRAP on the aggregated and anonymised results of the internal baselining of the German Pilot Working Platform (PWP) members were presented. The expert partner WRAP assessed that baselining is on the right track within the German REFRESH pilot platform. WRAP has been working with food operators in the UK since 2005 as part of the Courtauld Committment and brings significant experience and expertise to the platform.

It became clear that in the fourth phase of the "Courtauld Commitment" the signatories already have a better handle on some challenges (e. g. waste tonnage data, donor data) but that they also face similar ones than in Germany (e. g. currently impossible subdivision into edible / non-edible waste, unknown sales volume in tonnage).

Against this background, there was a lively discussion on the possibilities and challenges of collecting food waste data, which will be continued with the federal ministry at the next SC meeting in spring 2018.

Signatories' activities and REFRESH pilot projects: PWP members highly active

A collection from 13 PWP members of past and ongoing activities to reduce food waste resulted in the impressive number of 147 actions - some of which will soon be published on the Community of Experts. This number confirms the willingness and expertise of the participants to confirm the common framework of action, although no definitive statement can yet be made regarding the size and impact of the measures. In addition, the survey made it clear that impact measurement and the treatment of the priority areas identified at the third SC meeting should be addressed in a more targeted manner.

The brief presentation of the pilot project for apprentice training at PENNY, which is already being implemented, has therefore been eagerly awaited. First feedback from the PENNY trainers shows that the training concept and prepared material was well received, which was tailored to PENNY by the CSCP. The trainers expect to be able to conduct successful trainings themselves in order to raise awareness on the professional and personal relevance of the reducing food waste among 900 PENNY apprentices.

Further pilot project ideas will be discussed in the coming weeks and months. The next meeting of the German PWP will take place in spring 2018.