STREFOWA Workshop at the Ecomondo 2017, Rimini Italy

The “Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Strategies to Reduce Food Waste”, hosted by the STREFOWA project, took place on 8th November, 10:00 – 13:00 CET, at the Ecomondo Green Technology Expo 2017 in Rimini (Rimini Expo Centre; Italy). Within this workshop, ways were elaborated how long-lasting transnational cooperation between relevant stakeholders with various backgrounds can be established, fostered and maintained. This workshop addressed stakeholders connected to or interested in the entire food supply chain.

Strategies to reduce food waste in Europe

Mr. Alberto Rossini from the Province of Rimini opened the workshop and guided through the program. As an introduction to the discussion session, four presentations were given by project members and external speakers:  

• Gudrun Obersteiner from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (Austria), head of the STREFOWA project, gave an overview on the STREFOWA project’s goals and activities.
• Angelo Salsi, head of EU LIFE Program and CIP Eco-Innovation Unit, addressed in his speech EU food waste projects funded by the LIFE Programme and how LIFE can help addressing this societal challenge in the near future.
• Matteo Guidi from “Last Minute Market” spoke about peculiarities of food waste reduction in hotels and restaurants as food waste reduction in touristic areas is one of the STREFOWA pilot action implemented in Rimini.
• As an introduction to the discussion session, Iris Gruber from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (Austria), gave on overview on existing food waste networks and presented the concept for the transnational multi-stakeholder network that shall be established within the STREFOWA project. 

Establishing a transnational multi-stakeholder network

Following the presentations there was a discussion about the expectations regarding a transnational multi-stakeholder network tackling food waste from the perspective of potential users, moderated by Gudrun Obersteiner. The most relevant results of this discussion are:

• ALL sectors of the food supply chain are relevant and should be represented in the network;
• Small local and regional stakeholders should not be overlooked;
• Chambers and similar interest groups/authorities should be represented;
• Due to language barriers simultaneous translation is necessary to allow communication between actors from different countries;
• The points of action considered most relevant are related to expansion of food donation, changing policies of using “best-before” and “use-by” dates and awareness raising among consumers (clever food use; correct meaning of “best-before” and “use-by” dates);
• A mix of communication channels will be necessary: an online forum / chat portal or similar; physical events/meetings with the possibility of remote participation; online meetings (webinars, teleconferences, skypes).

A great start for the umbrella organisation to #reducefoodwaste in Europe!

​In total, 30 persons participated in this workshop. The majority of the participants was from Italy, but also stakeholders from Austria, Hungary, Belgium and Slovenia attended this event. The participants represented various types of stakeholders, amongst others local public authorities, national public authorities, sectoral agencies, interest groups including NGOs, higher education and research and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

Media coverage of the STREFOWA Workshop