It is estimated that close to one million tonnes of food are thrown out by consumers and businesses in Ireland every year – that’s roughly €700-worth of food per household. And on average, Irish households throw away one third of food every week.
In an attempt to address this issue, Dublin has been chosen as one of seven European cities to take part in an exciting pan-European TRiFOCAL project (Transforming City Food Habits for Life).
The project seeks to raise awareness amongst those living in the capital, along with commuters and visitors to the city, to reduce food waste while promoting healthy and sustainable eating, and recycling of unavoidable food waste.
It aims to prevent food waste by changing planning, shopping, storage and meal preparation habits.
The Eastern-Midland Regional Waste Management Office (EMWRO) is the Irish participant in the project, which aims to find food waste solutions specifically suited to cities.
The EU LIFE funded TRiFOCAL project is being led by a number of research organisations based in the UK, including WRAP the London Waste and Recycling Board (under the joint partnerships of Resource London) and Groundwork London.
In its current phase, the project will work with a wide range of stakeholders throughout London to pilot a number of food waste prevention and healthy eating innovations.
Successes within London will then be shared with the seven cities in the EU, with Dublin, Barcelona, Brussels, Burgas (Bulgaria) Milan, Oslo and Växjö (Sweden) the first to sign up to join the TRiFOCAL initiative.
Hugh Coughlan, Co-ordinator of the EMWRO said, “We are delighted to roll out the replication phase of this project in Dublin. It’s an exciting opportunity to be part of an initiative that has real potential to enact positive environmental and health impacts for our capital city and indeed cities all over Europe. In addition, we are hoping the results of this project can be adapted and extended nationally to all parts of Ireland.”
He added, “Participating in this project perfectly complements other work we are already doing in our region in terms of awareness and education to prevent avoidable food waste and to increase the recycling of unavoidable food waste. On average Irish households throw out one-third of food purchased, at an estimated cost of between €400 and €1,000 per household”.
The TRiFOCAL project seeks to raise awareness amongst those living in and visiting cities. It aims to prevent food waste by changing planning, shopping, storage and meal preparation habits.
For further information see http://trifocal.eu.com
