Meet The Italian Food Market That’s Fighting Food Wastage
Amid the hustle and bustle of one of Europe’s largest food markets, preventing food wastage takes the limelight.
In a shocking report by The Guardian last week, statistics by Feedback EU showed that around 153m tonnes of food in the EU are frittered away yearly, which is double the amount of previous estimates. Furthermore, the amount of food waste is 15m tonnes more than the amount of food that is imported by the EU.
According to Feedback EU director Frank Mechielsen, “it’s a scandal that the EU is potentially throwing away more food than it’s importing”. Mechielsen adds that this is especially worrying, considering the current crises of high food prices and cost of living. As Mechielsen states, the EU now has “the massive opportunity to set legally binding targets to halve its food waste from farm to fork by 2030 to tackle climate change and improve food security”.
How a market in Turin, Italy combats food wastage
Cities can take a page out of Turin, Italy’s book, where the bustling Porta Palazzo Organic Project works towards preventing food wastage.
This project collects unsold food from vendors at the end of each market day. The food — which would otherwise be thrown away – is sorted, boxed and distributed to those in need. The project not only feeds the hungry, but also raises awareness around food wastage. To put things into perspective, the project recovers nearly 400 kg of unsold products daily for redistribution. That’s 2 000 kg per a five-day week, roughly 8 000 kg per month, and 96 000 kg per year.
The project, according to the European Union, has three main objectives; to reduce food waste through the collection and distribution of unsold foods in one of the largest open-air markets in Europe; to increase the amount of materials that will be reused or recycled, with the aim to reduce the amount of incinerated material; and to further the city’s social inclusion agenda by providing a way for volunteer asylum seekers to engage in their community through the collection of unsold foods.
According to statistics, also made available by the European Union, the project shows positive results. The amount of food that is properly sorted has reached nearly 77%, and the organic waste sorted and recovered is nearly 33%.
As the European Union mentions, there are various positive aspects to such a positive project. First, it promoted a more circular economy, not to mention the benefits that it offers for a community.
Seeing the amount of food that is wasted across Europe — and seeing how small efforts to combat this can make a big impact — really makes you want to take inventory of your own food wastage! Let’s take inspiration from Porta Palazzo and think twice before we let food go to waste.
