28/01/2020

Fighting food waste!

Who are the “Espigoladors” and how are they fighting food waste?

At the global level, FAO estimates that each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Therefore, changing the way we produce and consume food is key to achieve the SDGs.

In fact, Goal 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”  includes amongst its targets to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and reduce food losses along production and supply chains”.

The good news is that change is already underway: there are more and more initiatives around the world dedicated to changing this situation!

And although the target might seem ambitious, the case of countries like Denmark that in 5 years managed to reduce their food waste by 25% gives us hope that it is POSSIBLE.

 

                       

Today we will present the inspiring work developed by the Catalan foundation Espigoladors.

Espigoladors is a non-profit foundation born in 2014 that fights against food waste. Their work is based on the principles of circular economy, a new paradigm that breaks with the traditional model of linear economy by maximizing the use of resources and minimizing the generation of unusable waste.

Espigoladors want to recover and dignify the gleaning activity (in Catalan “espigolar”), an ancient practice which consists in the harvest and collection, through an agreement with the farmer, of fruits and vegetables which are discarded from the commercial market for surplus production, diminishing of sales or aesthetic questions. Espigoladors organize gleanings directly in the fields of food which cannot be sold and we distribute them to social entities in order to provide access to healthy  food to people in vulnerable situations.

They also develop sustainable food products from the collected surplus in their central kitchen in el Prat de Llobregat, where they offer work and training opportunities to people at risk of social exclusion. Complementary, Espigoladors also develop workshops, courses, training, educational projects and activities to raise awareness on the subject.

Alba Canovas, from Espigoladors, generously shared with MAIA´s participants a little bit of Espigoladors´ vision and inspiring work. Don´t miss this short interview with her (subtitles available in English and Spanish):

 

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