foodcircleams - Tumblr blog

foodcircleams · 4 years ago

Text

Food Waste Around the World Episode 5: Israel

Food Waste Around the World is a Food Circle’s project aimed at providing information and raising awareness about food waste. The project is designed as a series of interviews with students coming from different countries with the aim of understanding how this issue is tackled and perceived around the world. This is made possible thanks to Sapient, the mother company of Food Circle, which every year offers internships to students from all around the world creating a unique multicultural environment.

Today we speak with Coby from Israel!

Hello Coby, thanks for participating in ‘food waste around the world’. To start with, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and where are you from?

Yes, my name is Coby Babani. I'm part of Sapient Social Environmental Enterprises. I'm very passionate about different topics such as digital democracy, food waste, and sustainable energy. At Sapient, we have several projects covering these topics. I really like working with people that work as a team and have the same goals. In this way, we can move forward together in creating more sustainable solutions for different challenges that our society is facing.

I was born originally in Tel Aviv, 41 and something years ago. I lived in South Africa between the age of 2 and 5 because of my parents' work. And then, since when I went back to Israel, I always had the desire to leave the country. Finally, almost 20 years later, I moved to the Netherlands where I studied economics and then business. Then, I started working in an NGO first, and I did some of my own things later. Eventually, I started all these projects and found all these amazing people like you to work with.

Wow, what an interesting story! And going back to your country of origin, Israel, do you know what is the food waste situation there? Is it a big issue?

So apparently, there's 18 billion Shekels worth of food wasted yearly in Israel. Converting, one Euro is about somewhere between four and four and a half shekels. So if we divide it roughly to four, it's about 5 billion Euros worth of food that's wasted every year. And in tonnes, (1 tonne is 1000 kilos) there's 2.5 million tonnes of food being wasted in Israel every year. So the situation is quite grim. Israel is a westernized country like Europe and the United States so likewise the amount of waste generated is quite high. It's a very Americanized country, so people like big things and everything is found in very big packages, there's a lot of consumption culture and throwing away food is not such a big deal. There's a lot of restaurants and cafes and so on, and especially in Tel Aviv, people are going out a lot and the more people order food outside, the more food gets wasted as well. So it seems like the problem is big, but it also seems like there are some people trying to do something about it in the last few years.

Okay, so you think that mainly the problem is at the consumption level, or are you also aware about problems at the production level?

We have a lot of agriculture and farming. We do have a lot of cows to produce meat and eggs. There's a lot of meat that has to be produced in Israel for it to be Kosher for the Jewish people, for the people are religious. It's not the biggest part of the population but it is a part of the population. There's also a lot of Arabs and they need Halal. So maybe that also keeps a lot of the meat production within Israel. We do have probably imported meat but I think most of it comes from Israel. Also, we're very good in milk, cheese and egg production. Beside that, Israel is very famous for the Jaffa oranges which are exported worldwide.

We are also experts in irrigation systems, in particular, this way of dripping very small drops in your crop and saving water that existed for like 40 years and it's sold all over the world. And because we develop that system, it's very easy for us to create good agriculture as well for crops that usually do not grow in Israel like bananas and avocados. The country presents various climates, from the mountains to the desert. And because of that, we grow everything, dates, cucumbers, tomatoes and so on. The problem is that to arrive at the supermarket shelves, the food has to comply with several standards. Of course, some markets deal with a bit more substandard food so some it gets sold. But there is in the end, a lot of production that gets lost and remains in the field. Another problem is the value of food, which is easy to get and it's cheap, so people throw it away like everywhere in the West. So I would imagine that in Israel, the percentage of food that gets wasted at the consumer level is the highest like also in Europe and other Western countries.

Right, and could you notice any differences between Israel and the Netherlands where you lived already for a while now?

So probably many things have changed in the last 20 years, but something that I’m pretty sure that didn’t change much is that in Israel we go to the supermarket by car and we have big fridges so we buy a lot of stuff that often ends up at the back of the fridge and is forgotten. Here in Holland people mainly have small fridges and go to the supermarket by bike. But generally, the approach is very similar. The food is cheap, it's easy to replace it. It's very accessible. So it's not valuable enough and it's very easy to throw away.

Yes, sadly. I know that you have been missing from Israel for a long time, but who do you think is really driving the attention or raising the awareness about food waste issues there? It is something done more from the government side or is it more like NGOs or communities that are taking action?

So from the research that I did for this interview, I discovered that the work is done mostly by organizations of food waste fighters, like here in Amsterdam. They try to create pressure, they want the government to take responsibility but the government is very slow to follow up, it is busy with many other issues as the Israeli Palestinian situation, economics and so on. The people that are currently there on the top, they probably don't care enough about social issues. So it's very similar to here.

There's one NGO called Leket Israel. They work mostly with gleaning and with poor families. Gleaning is a practice described in the Jewish Bible for which food producers have to leave 10% of their food on their field and let poor people come and collect it. Currently, this happens anyway because of supermarket standards, so part of the production is always left in the field because it is not compliant. This organization (Leket) goes with volunteers in the field, they gather all the food and they distribute it to poor people. In addition, they claim that the government is not doing enough and they're trying to create pressure and raise awareness on the topic.

Another interesting initiative is undertaken by an organization that created a tent that you put in your backyard and that produces biogas out of your food waste. It is based on the principle of anaerobic digestion where microorganisms in anaerobic conditions (without O2) ferment food waste producing Methane as a byproduct. This Methane is taken directly to your kitchen and can then be used as cooking gas so you can have your kitchen off-grid.

Yeah, that's a super cool solution! So you said that the main drivers of actions against food waste are the organizations but do you think it's gonna become a priority eventually in the government's agenda or you see this topic still far from becoming a priority?

It seems like some people in Israel, from what I understood, would like the government to have a bit of a more social approach, which is less focusing on money more focusing on society and the environment. If these people arrive at the top then yes, also food waste is going to become a priority. In general, the political situation is not very stable, indeed in the last two years, there were like three elections because nobody could create a government.

Besides politics, innovation could be another big driver. Israel is a startup nation. The whole country is like one big Silicon Valley, everybody's working on solutions. And some people work on solutions for sustainability. So I would imagine that more and more solutions will come out from Israel, because in the end, waste is useful, and it's possible to create income from this food instead of wasting it.

Okay. And at last, what do you think would be the most needed action to tackle the food waste issue? What is the most urgent next step to be taken and from who, the ‘top’ or the ‘bottom’?

I think that governmental action is the easiest way to influence and change stuff, especially acting on the education system. Then, NGOs and organizations need to put more pressure, they need to bring more solutions from outside instead of also maybe not only creating their own but just copycatting solutions from Europe. Overall, I don't think there's one solution that will work, everything needs to happen together. The innovation sector has to come up with solutions that make fighting food waste economically beneficial. At the same time, kids at school should be educated about the value of food and also adults, finding the right way of communicating such messages. In addition, the government should disincentive companies in producing food waste or incentive them in using food surplus through proper legislation. So yes, maybe the government should actually take the first step setting the conditions for change and then be followed by all the other actions.

Yeah, it makes sense. Okay. That would be it, thank you very much!

Thank you for having me!

0 notes

foodcircleams · 4 years ago

Text

Food Waste Around the World Episode 4: Spain

how this issue is tackled and perceived around the world. This is made possible thanks to Sapient, the mother company of Food Circle, which every year offers internships to students from all around the world creating a unique multicultural environment.

Today we speak with Sara from Spain!

Hello. Thank you for participating in this interview. To start, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and where are you from?

Hi, I’m Sara and I’m from Valencia in Spain. I went to Germany to study Social Sciences for the last three years and then I came to Amsterdam where I started my internship at Sapient as a talent coordinator. Unfortunately, after just a couple of weeks, I had to go back to Spain because of the Covid-19 crisis and now I’m carrying on the internship from here working remotely. Something about me is that I love to travel and to meet new people.

Okay great! And about food waste, what is the situation in Spain? Is that a big issue drawing a lot of attention or you would describe it as a minor issue?

Well in Spain, we have a new government now, I think we got it last year, which is more concerned with environmental issues. Indeed, since then, the food waste issue has drawn major attention. The government really wants to raise awareness on the topic among the population. However, 18% of the food that is bought in Spain still gets wasted, which is nearly 3 million tonnes of food every year. Only in my city, Valencia, it’s around 290,000 tonnes a year or 5600 t per week. So it’s a lot of food that gets wasted.

Well, yeah, it sounds like a lot of food. And even though you stayed just for a few weeks in the Netherlands, could you notice some differences in how food waste is perceived and/or handled here compared to Spain?

Well, what I noticed most in Spain is that like my parents, for example, or the parents of my friends always buy something new and then if it doesn’t get eaten in five days, they’re like: ‘oh, nobody wants it’, and they immediately throw it away. Since I’ve lived alone in the Netherlands, I don’t know what it’s the typical people’s behavior there. When I was living in Germany, my boyfriend and I always tried to use leftovers to make new dishes and we tried to never throw away anything. In Spain food waste is mainly at the consumer level, people maybe are not aware and so they don’t care that much. They don’t think it’s such a big problem to throw away some food. I think this is also because of misleading expiration dates on products. People think that they are going to get sick immediately also if the label says ‘best before’ so they just throw everything out and buy the same thing again and then. In this way, so much food gets wasted.

And who is really driving their attention and raising the awareness (if this is done) on food waste and food waste-related issues in Spain? Do you feel that it is more the government or like NGOs and communities?

I think it is both, there is like a pretty big initiative that’s called Yo no desperdicio which means “I don’t waste”. This initiative is meant for food and carries on many projects. In addition, the newly elected government, that as I said it is more concerned with environmental issues, has also started a plan against food waste. It’s a work in progress, but they started planning informative days about food waste and they tried to implement like a zero-tolerance policy to discourage waste production. But as I said, they’re just starting and now with the Covid-19 situation, they haven’t done any of these things yet. So it’s like, yeah, they’re trying but right now they have other priorities. Then, besides, governmental or local initiatives’ efforts, there are international organizations that are everywhere like To Good to Go through which you can buy leftovers for retailers and restaurants for a reduced fee.

Oh, great to hear that To Good to Go is also active in Spain!

Yes, many restaurants and cafes participate in the scheme and I really enjoy going there picking up cupcakes or snacks!

Okay, nice. So you said that the government is taking action but it is still in the beginning, then there international and local initiatives, but are you aware of some action at the community level? Like the initiative that you mentioned before, Yo no desperdicio, what is their scale and what do they do exactly?

Well, I think that they are active at the national level and they try to make people aware of the problem. In addition, they try to use the food that would be otherwise wasted for different things.

Sounds very interesting! Now let’s talk about the future, what do you think is gonna is going to happen with this new government, food waste is gonna become an important topic on the agenda or past the initial hype it is gonna ends up in the wayside again?

I think it will depend also on how the next elections will go. In Spain, we have two main parties. One is very conservative and doesn’t care about any of this. This party was governing until last year. The other party, the one that has been elected now is more environmentally friendly and concerned with this kind of issue. So if this party gets re-elected, I think it will have the time to really change things, especially past this Covid-19 crisis where food waste is not a priority. But if it doesn’t get re-elected, then I think we will step back to the same situation without making any progress.

Yeah, I see. Okay, and one last question, what do you think is the most important action that should be done in your country to reduce food waste?

Since the people are the ones throwing everything away, I think that maybe we could start with education on the topic in schools. We have a lot of projects about how to recycle plastic for example, but we don’t have anything on how to recycle food or how to use surplus food. I think that the older generations maybe don’t want to learn any more or anyways they are more difficult to reach. So we should start with the children and the teenagers so that in the future everyone will care about this issue.

Yes, that’s a really good idea! Okay. That would be it. Thank you very much, Sara!

Thank you for having me!

For more information head to: https://www.foodcirclenl.com/

0 notes

foodcircleams · 4 years ago

Text

Food Waste Around the World Episode 3: Romania

Today we speak with Silvia from Romania

Hi Silvia. Thank you for participating in this interview series. To start, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and where are you from?

Hello, I’m Silvia and I am from Romania. I first came to the Netherlands to do my Master in Organizational Psychology and then I moved to Amsterdam to finish my studies with an internship. I am currently an intern at Sapient Social & Environmental Enterprises being a member of the Talent Department for the Healthy and Affordable project. I’ve always been interested in any subject about the environment and making a change for a better future. So, that is why I’m concerned in reducing food waste.

Nice. And how is the food waste situation in Romania? Is that a big issue?

Right now the food waste situation in Romania is not so good. I recently found out that about 2.55 million tons of food are wasted every year. And this means that each person is throwing away around 129 kg of food annually. Most of the food that is thrown away is cooked food, fruits, vegetables and bakery products. In Romania we waste almost as much as the European average, even though our incomes are much lower! I personally find this disturbing.

I think that the biggest issue related to food waste in Romania at the moment, is the lack of awareness of the people around this issue. They are not aware of the consequences it may cause and they just buy and cook much more food than they actually need. I think that this behavior is related to our culture because we like to have large meals even if we know we can’t eat such big quantities. For example, in restaurants, the portions are always very large and you simply cannot eat all of it. Therefore, the food is going to be thrown away.

In addition, we eat a lot of bread with every meal and since bread doesn’t last very long, it ends up in the trash most of the time. For example, my grandparents buy bread almost every day, but they live in the countryside so the bread they don’t eat is fed to chickens and that’s good. But in the city, most of the food and bread surplus is eventually thrown away.

Interesting. And thinking about the time you spent in the Netherlands, have you noticed differences between how the issue of food waste is perceived and handled here and in Romania?

I noticed that in the Netherlands, there are more organizations that are dealing with this issue and people seem to be more aware of the problem. Moreover, more attention is given to waste management and recycling in general. In my country instead, recycling is neither very popular nor practiced.

In your home country, which communication channels drive the most attention on the food waste issue? TV, newspapers or is it more a discussion at the community level?

I think it’s on TV, but not as much as it should be. Some organizations try to raise awareness among the population and for example, in schools through workshops. Maybe the next generations will get the chance of being more educated about that.

And these organizations that you mentioned, are they governmental, NGOs or independent groups?

I don’t know exactly; what I know for sure is that food waste related non-governmental organizations exist. The government doesn’t do much about this issue.

Ok, I see. And is there any particular NGO which you’re familiar with?

I know about the Bucharest Food Bank, which was established in 2016 and that supported the development of other Food Banks in Romania. Their mission is to collect food from private businesses and retailers to then give it to people in need, for example, people with disabilities, abused women, or poor people.

Yeah, that’s really interesting. So it’s mostly the food banks that are handling the problem. And which age group do you think is more aware of food waste related issues, the younger or the older generation?

I think that, in the era of information, the younger generation is providing for its own awareness. But that’s just my opinion. However, researching a bit, I found that the people throwing away most of the food are under 35 years old. That was an unexpected discovery for me because I thought that young people would be more aware since they have more access to information about all the negative consequences of food waste.

That’s an interesting point. You mentioned some initiatives at the community level, but do you think that your country is giving enough attention to the issue of food waste overall?

I think that currently there is not enough attention and visibility of this issue. People are just not aware that this really is a problem. They are not aware of its consequences. But I think that in the future, things will slowly change because as I said, I noticed that there are some actions aimed at educating young people.

Yeah. And what else do you think could be done in your country to improve the situation? Maybe something that you’ve seen during your permanence in the Netherlands, which could be applied back in at home?

I think there could be more organizations to deal with the problem and raise awareness on the topic. Plus, at a governmental level, there should be some adjustments aiming at producing specific legislation and regulation targeted on reducing food waste.

Absolutely. Anything else that you would like to add? Maybe some interesting facts discovered in any of your previous research?

As I said, I was surprised to find that the majority throwing away the most food consists of highly educated people. Because usually, you would expect that people with higher education would also be the most informed ones. But I think that’s because education is not really focusing on food waste. Maybe this is also because the more educated people usually earn more money so they can spend more money on food — while they can also afford to throw it away.

Okay, that would be it then. Thank you very much.

Thanks for having me!

Get more information at: https://www.foodcirclenl.com/

0 notes

foodcircleams · 4 years ago

Text

Food Waste Around the World Episode 2: Poland

Today we speak with Paulina from Poland!

Hi Paulina, welcome to this interview and thank you for participating in the project Food Waste Around the world. To start, can you tell me where are you from and a little bit about yourself?

Hi, my name is Paulina Wolny and I am from Poland. I recently graduated from Nottingham Trent University and I'm doing an internship in Amsterdam in a sustainable organisation. I work in the Events and Funding departments. I focus mostly on creating events on the topic of sustainability. For example, I organised an art exhibition aimed at raising the awareness on sustainability by showcasing art created in a sustainable way or art representing the major current issues on the topic. I also take care of filing applications to possible funds and donors for our projects.

Interesting! And what is the food waste situation in Poland? Is it a big issue?

I guess Poland is not focusing that much on the food waste issue. However, we do have some organisations that try to reduce food waste, but currently not on a large scale. The main issue that we are facing right now, I guess, is extreme poverty. There are around 2 million people in Poland that live in extreme poverty. So, basically, the organisations that try to reduce food waste work as a connection between people in need and organisations that produce a food surplus. However, every year, approximately, a polish person creates 235 kilos of food waste. So, I guess there is not enough awareness about the topic of food waste.

Are there any specific differences in what you see in Poland compared to the Netherlands? According to food waste?

The thing is that I was working in a company focused on sustainability and food waste specifically. Hence, I experienced a high level of awareness on the topic so it’s difficult for me to tell how the issue is generally perceived in the Netherlands. In Poland, there are some digital platforms that offer the possibility of selling and buying food that otherwise would be wasted, such as Too good to go. However, the scale of those platforms in Poland is definitely smaller than in Amsterdam.

In Poland who is really driving the attention or raising the awareness on the food waste issue? Is it the government or are they NGO’s and small communities?

It is mostly the private sector that drives awareness of these issues and not the government. The government’s focus on environmental issues is scarce.

Are you aware of any of these initiatives to address food waste undertaken by the private sector in Poland?

There are some food banks and federations that are usually non-profit. They collect food from supermarkets and restaurants and their priority is to distribute it among those who are vulnerable and lack access to food. However, there are not many organisations that focus on food waste. The public awareness about the existence of different food waste organisations in Poland and the possibility of volunteering or working for them is very poor. You need to actively research to find out whether there are initiatives focusing on specific causes.

Since currently, the main driver behind this cause is mostly the private sector, do you think that in the future the government will eventually consider stepping in?

I hope so. When I look at my government I see that the Sustainable Development Goals haven’t been integrated as much into the policies and regulations. However, on a personal level, I am aware of the issues which come from having food waste in society but it can be a little difficult to start a conversation on this. What I feel should be important is that the Polish community needs to come together and tackle the larger socio-economic issues. There needs to be the importance of taking care of the welfare of the citizens, once when there is the progress made it will make it easier to tackle other issues regarding food waste.

What do you think could be the possible first steps to be taken by the different organisations? Do you think it needs to come from the community following a bottom-up approach or top-down from the government?

It should come from the top but I don’t think it will happen in Poland. For it to work, more organisations need to connect. Food Circle is a great example of an initiative that connects other food waste organisations. It would be great to have such an organisation here connecting all of the dots. Because, we need to work on a better world altogether after all, right?

Perfect. Okay, that would be it. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

0 notes

foodcircleams · 4 years ago

Text

Food Waste Around the World Episode 1: Pakistan

Today we speak with Imaan from Pakistan!

Hi Imaan, welcome to this interview and thank you for participating in the project Food Waste Around the world. To start, can you tell me where are you from and a little bit about yourself?

Sure, my name is Imaan Faruqui, I am Pakistani and I come from a city called Karachi. I’ve been living in Amsterdam since August. I am currently working as a project coordinator at Food Circle. Since I moved to Amsterdam I’ve been doing my Master’s in environmental geography as well. I’ve always had a very keen interest in geography. Indeed, I used to teach geography in school for the last three years before I moved to Amsterdam.

Oh, nice! And what is the food waste situation in Pakistan? Is there a lot of food waste?

At the production level I haven’t heard much because at this scale food is lost mainly due to energy and development issues, which are more difficult to fix. In Pakistan, one thing which is extremely common is that there’s not enough electricity for everyone. So, sometimes, energy supplies are distributed in rotation to different communities and locations. This causes fluctuations in electricity that spoil refrigeration and conservation processes. I know that the government is focusing on building dams and they are looking into different energy options because this issue adversely affects communities in many ways.

So the cause of food waste at the production level is improper conservation due to energy fluctuation. What about issues like irrigation and extreme weather?

Yes also that is a problem. Heat waves are very common in the summertime and every year the temperature is getting higher and it’s getting worse. This can kill and destroy the crops more and much sooner. So also due to climate change, we are suffering a lot with food loss issues.

You already told me of some actions to reduce food waste from the government and from organizations, any other initiative that comes into your mind?

You actually hear a lot more from NGOs, which are working on this issue. So I can name a couple of NGOs which are working on it. There is one that is called Rizq. I think that it was started by some students in high school that went to collect food waste from different events, or get people to donate them food that then is redistributed to vulnerable communities. Then there is the Robin Hood Army, which is very big because this is an international NGO active in a lot of developing countries as well. They focus on getting food from very large events and donate it to people in need.

Interesting…One last question for you, Imaan. Do you feel that your country is giving enough attention and taking enough action to tackle this food waste issue?

I do feel that food waste is important and the country is aware of the issue, but at the moment it is not high up on their priority list. I think that the first priority in the country is making sure that everyone gets fed.

Yeah I Imagine… even though rescuing food waste means increasing food availability, if you can rescue it in time, of course. So what do you think could be done to shift food waste up in the priority list?

I think that a good step to undertake beneficial to both issues is ensuring that there is a better food distribution. Pakistan is a big country and sometimes the road network is not well developed. This increases the time in which the food is taken from point A to point B, increasing the possibility that the food goes bad before arriving and increasing the vulnerability of communities living along. If there is a proper road system to quickly transport the food and then distribute it efficiently this can reduce the amount of food that gets wasted, feeding people who are very hungry as well.

It sounds good. Okay, that would be it. Thank you very much Imaan.

Okay, Thank you.

Find out more at https://www.foodcirclenl.com/

0 notes