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Description
Our project addresses two issues – food waste and low civic engagement of the beneficiaries of social safety programs. United Nations considers the first issue as one of the modern global challenges, and Poland holds the seventh place in Europe when it comes to quantities of wasted food. On the other hand, our region sees a high demand for social services and benefits, including food assistance programs. Additionally, according to the research, individuals who are unhappy with their material standing are often characterized by a low degree of civic engagement. We’d like to combine these two issues by engaging individuals at risk of social exclusion into action towards combating the food waste. We will recruit 10 organizations from the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodesip that work on behalf their local communities. In collaboration with social care centers, we will select participants for the project – individuals at risk of social exclusion. We will train them to become independent educators and advocates against food waste. Additionally, with our support, they will prepare and complete projects for their community and devise a plan for their organization for educational development and anti-food waste practices.
Summary of project results
Research conducted by the Institute for Environmental Protection in 2020 shows that the scale of food wastage in Poland is enormous, amounting to almost 5 million kilograms per year (the research was conducted under the PROM - Promotion of Rationalisation and Reduction of Food Waste project, in which we were the leader). Although waste occurs at every stage from production to consumption, according to the Institute''s research, the consumer is responsible for 60% of the waste. Gumtree.pl’s study ''The Second Life of Things'' showed that in Poland only 50% of people understand the zero waste concept and only 29% implement it in their lives.
Responding to these issues, we promoted the idea of not wasting food and zero waste in 5 diverse (geographically, historically and in terms of size) locations in Poland - Warsaw, Olsztyn, Kielce, Piła and Ciechanów. In each location, an initiative group of 5-10 people representing different sectors was formed. In the selected locations, we recruited NGOs, local zero waste activists and activists, as well as representatives of businesses and local governments who expressed interest in the project. We conducted webinars for them on the concept of zero waste, including in particular on reducing food waste. We organised a training on facilitation methods, which showed the participants the problem in a comprehensive approach - taking into account different perspectives and preparing them to work with the local community. The groups then led meetings with the local community to talk about the problem of wasting resources, including food, and diagnose the barriers to tackling it. Based on these consultations, they planned and implemented community campaigns on not wasting resources in their localities. We developed 2 ebooks describing zero waste activities implemented by local communities. We also conducted two online conferences on not wasting food.
Through these activities it was possible to jointly and bottom-up develop recommendations for the cities involved, the implementation of which is monitored by trained groups. Some of these groups are still active in their cities around the topic of zero waste. We have also observed an increased interest among local authorities in the topic and the good practices we have collected.