United Against Waste
United Against Waste e. V. - together against waste - is an initiative of the food industry. The non-profit association works supraregionally against food waste in communal catering. United Against Waste was founded in December 2012 and is managed by Torsten von Borstel.
aims
The aim of the non-profit association is to raise awareness of the subject of "food waste" among all those involved in the food industry. In addition, the association offers practical solutions to reduce food waste in communal catering in the long term and to make operational processes more efficient. The content-related program includes 60 specific targets and makes sustainability an integral part of the association's statutes. At the same time, active public relations work ensures that the respectful and appreciative handling of the resource “food” continues to move into the public focus. Because: only those who understand the point behind avoiding waste will act accordingly. A successful strategy against food waste first requires awareness and education. United Against Waste is therefore also pursuing an educational mandate and has accompanied numerous campaigns and initiatives that focus on the appreciation of the resource “food” and encourage participation.
Campaigns and Initiatives
Waste analysis tool
In order to achieve measurable and verifiable results in the fight against food waste, United Against Waste developed the waste analysis tool in 2015. It serves as an aid to companies in out-of-home catering in the effective reduction of food waste. The measurement method is simple and meaningful: Waste is sorted using four transparent collection bins that depict the entire kitchen process: Waste from the warehouse, from production waste, overproduction and the return of plates. At the end of each day, the respective amounts of waste are weighed and documented. This visualization - in combination with analysis and calculation tables - supports the immediate implementation of low-waste communal catering. In addition, correlations are made clear with the help of the waste analysis tool: Employees can immediately see where food waste is generated and how its amount can be reduced. Even simple measures - such as a changed offer (e.g. different portion sizes, improved management at the buffet and when serving) - can be implemented directly and make a significant contribution to avoiding waste. The tool supports the implementation of low-waste communal catering with analysis and calculation tables. Based on the measurements, valid key figures and benchmarkings for the industry are currently being developed.
Research project to reduce food waste in schools
Together with the NRW consumer center and the NRW school catering network, United Against Waste provided technical support for the REFOWAS (REduce FOod WASte) research project and supported the goal of low-waste school catering with practical measures - such as technical discussions and coaching of kitchens. A total of 11 schools took part in the campaign. The first results from the research project have been available since February 2017. Dedicated measurements and analyzes of leftovers at eleven all-day schools show that around a quarter of the school meals produced are disposed of. Extrapolated to all German all-day schools, this corresponds to 29,000 t of food waste per year - that makes 22 kg per all-day schoolchildren. In monetary terms, this waste adds up to a loss in value of almost 57.8 million euros.
Accompaniment of a study on food losses in Germany
The public discussion about food losses in the value chain from cultivation to processing, trade, out-of-home catering to consumers has prompted the German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU) to analyze the situation by the consumer center NRW, corsus corporate sustainability and United Against Waste to commission food losses. This resulted in the comprehensive study “Situation analysis of food losses in retail, out-of-home catering as well as in private households and consumer behavior (SAVE)”.
"Enjoy without leftovers" campaign
The initiative “Too good for the bin!” Of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) together with United Against Waste called for a nationwide campaign “Enjoying without leftovers” (June 2016) to encourage more conscious handling of food. From May 30th to June 6th, company restaurants informed their guests about the topic of food waste with brochures, posters, table displays and their own campaigns. Over 750 canteens nationwide took part in the initiative.
Initiative "Enjoy Us!"
“Enjoy us!” Is an initiative against food waste along the entire value chain. The organizational sponsors are WWF Germany and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe. United Against Waste participated in the campaign as a cooperation partner. Other partners of the initiative: the Foodsharing Association, the Federal Association of German Food Banks, the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center and the initiators Valentin Thurn (film: Taste the Waste) and Stefan Kreutzberger (book: Die Essenvernichter).
Awards
"Green Ribbon Special Award"
United Against Waste eV was awarded the special prize “Outstanding Industry Initiative - Green Belt 2016” for its special commitment in the fight against food waste. This prize is awarded annually by HUSS-MEDIEN GmbH together with the specialist magazines gastronomie & hotellerie and GV-Kompakt.
Workshop N - Council for Sustainable Development
The Council for Sustainable Development awards its “Werkstatt N” seal of quality every year for particularly sustainable action. As a workshop N project, the Sustainability Council awards projects that have already proven their suitability for everyday use. In 2015 he awarded this label to United Against Waste for its pioneering initiative against food waste, as the association creatively combines economy, ecology and social issues.
INTERNORGA future award
With the INTERNORGA Future Prize, Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH honors future-oriented companies with products from the out-of-home market that have made a special contribution to sustainability. In 2013 United Against Waste was awarded the “Special Prize”. A total of three prizes will be awarded in the categories “Food and Beverage”, “Technology and Equipment” and “Application”. This year the jury decided to honor the United Against Waste association with a fourth prize in recognition of its cross-category approach.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ DBU - STUDY Situation analysis of food losses in retail, out-of-home catering and in private households and consumer behavior (SAVE)
- ↑ INTERNORGA Future Prize - internorga.com ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
