foodwaste.ch has been informing and raising awareness about food waste since 2012 throughout Switzerland. The non-profit organization promotes and supports societal dialogue among stakeholders. foodwaste.ch provides concrete solutions aimed at reducing food waste across the entire food chain – for example, through programs such as ‚Foodsaving with School Classes,‘ ‚Zero-Waste Kitchen,‘ ‚Your City Sets the Table,‘ ‚foodsave-banquets.ch,‘ and an interactive traveling exhibition. In 2021, foodwaste.ch participated in the Spotlight with the project ‚foodsave-banquets.ch – Bringing Climate Protection to the Table.‘
It all started with a croissant: One day, Claudio Beretta, one of the founders of foodwaste.ch, was in his favorite bakery. It was evening, and there were still various delicious pastries on the shelf. ‚What happens to them after closing time?‘ he wondered, thus finding a topic for his master’s thesis. At the same time, João Almeida also focused his thesis on the question of how much food waste Switzerland produces and what happens to it. Using different methods, the two arrived at matching numbers. They concluded that far too much food waste was being generated and decided not to let the results disappear into a drawer, but to make their research public and useful. So they founded foodwaste.ch, not only to publish facts about food waste but also to raise awareness among the Swiss population about the importance of respecting food.
Over the years, foodwaste.ch has developed various projects and offerings: from interactive traveling exhibitions to infographics and flyer materials, to cooking courses and workshops, as well as harvest support for farmers. The awareness activities are broad and reach people of all ages. Two of them are highlighted here:
foodsave-bankette.ch
Since 2021, foodwaste.ch has been operating the coordination center foodsave-banquets.ch as one of its projects, bringing feast meals made from surplus food to the entire German- and French-speaking Switzerland. Local organizing teams, consisting of food-saving organizations, church and municipal communities, schools, as well as local associations and non-profit organizations, are supported by foodwaste.ch to independently and regularly organize large-scale events. More about it on www.foodsave-bankette.ch.
Enjoying longer without risk
Since 2021, it’s official: Food, when stored correctly, can be enjoyed well beyond the best before date. Moreover, they can even be sold in stores beyond this date. Two fundamental reports commissioned by the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (BLV) provide information on this. Whether a food item with the label ‚Best before‘ is still good after that date can be easily checked with the senses. But what about the label ‚Use by‘? There is still much uncertainty and confusion among the population regarding the different dates and how to interpret them.
Therefore, foodwaste.ch has established the information platform www.foodwaste.ch/haltbarkeit. Additionally, it aims to motivate grocery stores and farm shops to sell products beyond their expiration dates. To support retailers in this endeavor, foodwaste.ch offers various tools and resources (www.foodwaste.ch/detailhandel).
For more information, visit www.foodwaste.ch.
