Raising awareness of the general public on food waste is indeed crucial, as households account for the most of the food waste. It is as important to make the private sector take action in food waste management and support / train professionals of the food industry about the subject.
Food waste is one of the most serious global challenges that we are facing today and is closely linked to several other environmental, social and economic issues that range from resource efficiency to waste management, to hunger and equality. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN member states in 2015, aims to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” (UN SDG 12 / 12.3) [1]. It calls both developed and developing countries into a global partnership in reaching this goal by 2030.
One of the regional initiatives against food waste is the ‘Save Your Food’ campaign implemented under the partnership of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and government of Turkey. The ‘Reduction of Food Loss and Waste in the SEC Countries’ project “aims to assist Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to develop national strategies and action plans for reducing food loss and waste (FLW)” [2].
Raising awareness of the general public on food waste is indeed crucial, as households account for the most of the food waste. It is, however, as important to make the private sector take action in food waste management and support / train professionals of the food industry about the subject. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), compared to bigger corporations, need particular support; as they are usually limited by the lack of financial and human resources to pursue initiatives beyond their daily essential businesses. The ‘Save Your Food’ website presents ways for private sector engagement and good practice examples, which could be interesting for SMEs to check out as their first step for fight against food waste.
In our project, GTE4SME, we focus on sustainable SME- growth and -transformation and aim to support SMEs on various topics, including environmental and social impact of their businesses. Contact our team in order to get more information about our project.
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