Let's make a change

Let's make a change! #reducefoodwaste public conference in Prague

STREFOWA is an international strategic project aimed at preventing unnecessary food waste and its more efficient processing in 5 European Union countries. Through pilot activities on farms, schools, homes, supermarkets or hotels, we are experimenting with innovative solutions, building tools and practical training for different sectors that enable them to actively prevent food waste from “farm to fork”. This project focuses on every element across the food chain and is also experimenting with new ways of collecting and processing food waste.

About the conference

The public conference named Let´s make a change! was held on 23rd March 2019 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Impact Hub, Prague. For the first time in history, a public international conference on food waste will take place in the Czech Republic.

The main goals of this event were to present the results of a 3-year STREFOWA project to the public and increase the project visibility, linking all stakeholders from different countries, be it individuals, groups or professionals already working in this department and raise public awareness of this issue.

Inspiring talks and workshops

Overall, 21 presentations were presented by 16 speakers. The program was waged in 3 rooms. In open space (big conference room), blue room and orange room. STREFOWA projects results were presented in open space, specifically 9 pilot actions were shown in detail. Other two rooms were mainly reserved for other workshops, courses and interesting presentations that do not belong to the project. One of the main speaker was Selina Juul, a Russian-Danish activist, founder of Stop Wasting Food movement, known for her work in promoting the reduction of food waste. In total, 110 participants from 24 countries took part in the conference.

Tips and Tricks how to avoid food waste traps: Selina Juul

Selina Juul is founder and chairman of the Board of the "Stop Wasting Food" movement, TEDx Speaker and Blogger on Food Waste at The Huffington Post USA.

Food Waste Crime Scene: Sandra Schwödt

Crime Scene Organic Waste Bin - How to take up food waste? Taking up food waste in class can be tricky - so it is good to know what kind of materials are available and how food waste can be explored in school as well as beyond with long-lasting impressions!Sandra Schwödt and Marta Cociancig from BOKU - Universität für Bodenkultur Wien presented the school material created in STREFOWA and showed what other school materials to teach about the importance about food waste from an early age.

ATM Tirol Mitte: Claudia Sacher

Claudia Sacher from ATM Abfallwirtschaft Tirol Mitte introduced an innovative approach of using organics from residual waste as an energy source in wastewater treatment plants and gave an insight on the pilot for this in Tyrol. Although a separate collection of organic waste is set up in Austria 20 – 25 % of organics can be found in residual waste. These organics could be extracted from the residual waste and used as an energy source in wastewater treatment plants for biogas production.

From field to cooking pot: Elisabeth Schmied

Elisabeth Schmied presented the pilotaction about the potential of post-harvest to reduce food waste.

KARAKTER ERNTE” – a new initiative to use the entire harvest of vegetable farmers: Claudia Sacher

Find out more about this interesting project in Austria to #reducefoodwaste on farms by distributing it to hotels and restaurants.

Czech Zero Waste

Jana Karasová from Czech Zero Waste gave practical tips on how to reduce your household's waste. An average European generate almost 500 kilograms of municipal waste in a year. Zero waste – a life without trash offers advice and tips on how to protect our life from waste and how to deal with the trash that we cannot avoid in a sustainable way.
In this hands-on workshop, we checked out our trash bins and thought about simple steps that will result in waste reduction.

and many more ...