A new initiative is underway to tackle food waste in Cyprus as part of an EU-funded bicommunal project — Sincerely, Food Cyprus.
The aim is to improve on Cyprus poor showing: according to European Parliament figures and a press release by Akti Project and Research Centre, Cyprus ranks third in the EU in the production of food waste with 327 kg per capita annually, behind only the Netherlands and Belgium.
Sincerely Food, Cyprus, is an eight-month long, bi-communal project which is EU-funded under ‘Global learning approach on food waste in non-formal education’
It aims to utilise the engaging material developed by ‘Sincerely, Food’, adapt it to the Cypriot reality, disseminate it and raise awareness about food waste to as wide an audience as possible.
Reasons for the importance of ‘Sincerely, Food Cyprus’:
1. It takes a lot of time, human work and resources to produce food.
2. More than a half of food waste EU-wide is generated in homes.
3. Consumers have a big role to play in tackling food waste.
4. Tropical forests are being cleared to produce waste
5. Food waste contributes to the global warming which causes extinction of animals and plants.
6. It’s easy to avoid food waste by planning your food needs.
7. Food will stay fresh much longer if we store it correctly.
8. Reducing food waste means saving money, resources, and our Planet.
Main Project Activities:
1.”Food for Peace” campaign: A bi-communal action which will focus on the culinary students of two Universities.
2.Presentations at schools to create awareness.
3.Door-to-Door Awareness Raising in two Municipalities.
4.Cooking Competition focusing on reducing food waste during the preparation process.
The focus will be on those target groups that have the greatest potential to make a difference in the amount of food waste that is being created: urban households, domestic workers from third countries, culinary students and children. A decrease in the food waste will contribute to meeting the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger, responsible consumption and production and climate action, the project adds.
Urban Households account for more than half of the food waste- other sources of food waste include retail and wholesales, production, processing. Thus, they are the main target group and most of the activities will directly or indirectly lead to a creation of their awareness. One of the actions will be a Door-to-door Awareness Raising in two Municipalities, one on either side of the Green Line.
University culinary students, children and youth are particularly important, since environmental awareness and consciousness are formed from an early age. The project will therefore encourage children and youth to become involved in the reduction of food waste in households. Through the involvement of university culinary students, the programme hopes to develop a more considerate and environmental culture to could be adopted by the future cooking professionals, cooks and chefs. Project activities with these target groups in mind include Interactive Presentations for awareness raising and promotion of best practices in schools and the “Food 4 Peace” bi-communal campaign which will reach two Universities, again on both sides of the Green Line.
Domestic Workers are manage cooking in many of Cyprus households, a fact that makes them a very important contributing factor on Food Waste. Informational material will be translated in Filipino as well, the language of the majority of domestic workers in Cyprus. Furthermore, the closing event will be a Cooking Competition in which one of the criteria will be Zero Waste. Such a scheme is also promoting the integration of migrants in the Cyprus community.
