A trillion dollars: this is the value of food waste on the planet, and every year it rises to over 2.600 billion with the hidden "costs" linked to water and environmental impact. While in the EU alone 88 million tons of food are thrown away every year and every day, still in Europe, as many as 720 Kcal of food per person are wasted (Fusions 2016 data). An abyss that is above all in our homes: domestic dustbins hold the record for food waste, a good 47 million tons for EU citizens, a cost that for Italian citizens - from the home pantry to the refrigerator, from the stove to the rubbish – is estimated at 8,4 billion euros per year (or 6,7 euros per week per family for 650 grams) but which the pilot tests of the Waste Watcher Observatory (Last Minute Market / Swg) have tried to calculate realistically, beyond any perception. Thus discovering, with scrupulous annotations and cross-checks in the dustbin (the so-called "waste sorting") that the actual cost of the domestic waste in Italy is worth over 13 billion euros each year, or about 1% of GDP.
The real quantification of domestic waste in Italy will be one of the leitmotifs of the campaign Zero Waste 2016, presented today in Rome, promoted by Last Minute Market in close synergy with the Ministry of the Environment, as part of the new Reduce 2016 – 2017 project, with the UniCredit partnerships and a motivated pool of Italian agri-food and national packaging companies who have decided to support a campaign carried out (since 2010) without any public contribution, as chosen by the promoters: they are Granarolo, Alce Nero, Comieco, Conapi-Mielizia, the National Packaging Institute, Conad and Bia Italian Food. Media Partner of the Spreco Zero 2016 campaign will be Radio2 Rai.
The campaign, curated by agroeconomist professor Andrea Segre' founder of Last Minute Market, in recent years has identified with its action the movement of thought and commitment that is commonly defined today as "zero waste". Since 2010 Spreco Zero has been pursuing the priorities of the anti-waste legislation recently approved by the Chamber: the new law resumes the work started by Last Minute Market and in the previous context of PINPAS (National Plan for the Prevention of Food Waste, Min Ambiente).
Themes such as the age-old question of recovery and donation of unsold food, the provisions related to packaging, labels and Family Bags - which are among the priorities of the new legislation - have been at the center of the Zero Waste campaign in recent years, supported by the monitoring of the Waste Watcher Observatory which studies the evolution of food habits of Italians and the causes of domestic food waste. A reference work also for operators and the major national media: in 2011, in fact, the campaign was born of the movement of hundreds of Mayors who subscribed to "Carta Spreco Zero" (Milan, Rome, Florence, Naples, Palermo, Turin, Bologna, Venice, Trieste, passing through the 64 virtuous Italian municipalities) merged last year into Sprecozero.net, the first network that unites Italian administrators in the sign of the anti-waste commitment.
«Studying better the causes and behaviors of consumers is the first step in guaranteeing adequate waste prevention policies – stated the founder of Last Minute Market Andrea Segrè, president of the technical-scientific committee for the national waste prevention plan, at the presentation in Rome waste (Min. Ambiente) – This is why the Spreco Zero campaign will this year go to the root of domestic waste, precisely indicating the qualitative and quantitative measure of waste at each meal and will explain how thrown away food is disposed of from time to time».
For the 2016 edition the Zero Waste Living Award includes three different categories: Businesses, Public Administrations and schools. The nomination for the Award is open to all companies that want to propose themselves and that in the last 3 years have promoted or supported, within their structure and in the area in which they work, measures, actions or projects capable of combating the phenomenon of food waste .
In addition to the self-nominations, some companies will be selected among those that joined the PINPAS Consulta (250 members belonging to over 140 organizations). For the Public Administration category, the selection will be conducted among the more than 600 signatories of the "Carta Spreco Zero" and among the members of the Sprecozero.net Association. In the Schools category, the selection of initiatives will be conducted within the 46 training institutions of the Scuola Centrale Formazione association which operates nationally and internationally for professional training and transition to work, with around 20.000 students from all over Italy.
Also citizens will be able to participate for the first time at the Prize. All tweets with #sprecozero #contest sent between 15 September and 15 October 2016 will be taken into consideration. The 20 most interesting tweets according to the 2016 Jury of the Prize will be published on the website of the campaign and of the reference partners. Among these, the winning tweet will be chosen, which will bring a supply of agri-food products to its creator.
