Framework for Action (“Blueprint”)

The Framework for Action approach, piloted in four countries through the REFRESH project identified five steps as being key to include in the establishment and management. The REFRESH Voluntary Agreement Blueprint is based on these five success factors which have been evidenced and followed throughout the project by the four pilot countries. The Blueprint was designed as an interactive PDF document and can be found online.

Standardisation Bodies

Members of the four REFRESH national Pilot Working Platforms (PWP) were encouraged to participate in innovative projects (so called “pilots”) to support the aims of their Voluntary Agreements. One idea pitched was the reduction of food loss and waste in the fresh foods category by using GS1 barcodes containing expiry date information that can be used by retailers and consumers. The use of these GS1 barcodes enables more accurate information on the expiry date profiles of fresh foods, which in turn can provide an optimisation of fresh foods stocks, the ability to block the sale of near-expired product, the ability to sell-out near-expired products at attractive markdowns for consumers and thereby, a significant reductions of in-store loss and waste.

The main evaluation of REFRESH’s outreach activities is summarized in the 80 pages report “Final report on dissemination and exploitation of REFRESH results” (Wunder et al. 2019) that analyses the reach and impact of all communication tools used by REFRESH (events, publications, contest, quiz, website, Community of Experts, newsletter, social media activities on Twitter and Facebook, videos, press releases etc.).