RPMs 2014
Four Regional Platform Meetings took place in 2014:
- Southern Europe: 14 March 2014 in Athens, Greece
- Scandinavia: 6 May 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden
- Central Europe: 9 May 2014 in Düsseldorf, Germany
- North West Europe: 28 May 2014 in London, UK
More information about each meeting, including agendas and presentations, can be found below.
Southern Europe
On 14th of March 2014 the 2nd Southern Europe Multi-stakeholder Platform Meeting took place in Athens, organized by ANATOLIKI sa in collaboration with Hellenic Solid Waste Management Association, supported by the Federation of Hellenic Food Industries, WWF Hellas, the Solid Waste Management Authorities Network and the Panhellenic Union of Food Technologists. The main goal of the meeting was to exchange knowledge and best practices and to promote solutions to issues of prevention and reduction of food waste (wastage). A large number of stakeholders were invited to participate in the Meeting and to the three consultation sessions that took place after the completion of the oral presentation. The aim for these sessions was to discuss trends, dilemmas and insights and share options for solutions and actions on food waste prevention. The Meeting was attended by ninety participants, who, besides the FUSIONS partners and the speakers, were representatives from the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, the Greek Recycling Organization, the Centre for Research and Technology of Greece, the Central Union of Municipalities Local Authorities, Universities, Technological Institutes, Consultation Firms and Vocational Training Centers. Following the oral presentations, three consultation sessions were held about Quantification and Harmonization of Monitoring, Policy and Legislation and Social Innovation Initiatives, with all attendees invited to participate and present their opinions, recommendations and proposals regarding these three issues.
Meeting agenda and minutes.
Central Europe
The second FUSIONS regional platform meeting took place in Dusseldorf after the Save Food Conference (http://www.save-food.org/) and in parallel to Interpack 2014 (http://www.interpack.de/). The SAVE FOOD initiative is a joint campaign instituted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Messe Düsseldorf GmbH to fight global food loss. Around 40 experts and stakeholders from all across Europe gathered to at this fruitful meeting. Meeting participants represented various groups, ranging from NGOs in the food and health sectors, industry associations, food production companies, scientists and public authorities, including ministries. Amongst the workshop participants, there were several partners of the German-speaking network for the prevention of food waste (http://www.essens-wert.net/).
The meeting covered three main topic areas – Social Innovation, Packaging and Retail – bringing together a variety of speakers to address the role that each area can play in food waste prevention, and to showcase innovative and current examples of initiatives undertaken by various stakeholders. Two FUSIONS feasibility studies (“Advancing social supermarkets” and “Food service surplus solutions”) were also presented. Participants also participated in a project consultation, in which they were asked to provide feedback on the impact of various policy scenarios aimed at driving food waste reduction.
North West Europe
The North West Europe regional meeting took place in London on 28th May and had an ambition to make food waste action seem ‘doable’ and encourage collaborative working. Delivered in partnership with Love Food Hate Waste , we heard from Dr Julian Parfitt on the recent UK House of Lords Inquiry into the EU's contribution to food waste prevention, delved into behavioural theories with Tori Flower of We Are What We Do and were inspired by the initiatives being progressed by the Scottish Government, Sodexo and Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency. Two of FUSIONS own feasibility studies operating in the region were introduced - Gleaning and Disco BôCô. To inspire action around the Food Waste theme planned for the 2014 E-W-W-R (European Week of Waste Reduction), we heard from Northern Ireland’s successful implementation in 2013. The Directory of Social Change building provided a great setting for our 80+ delegates from across business, community groups, local and national government to discuss key issues around social innovation, quantifying food waste, partnership working and evaluating the impact of their projects. Short case-study style presentations introduced each discussion topic, enabling speakers to share their experience and provoke an interesting discussion. Attendees were challenged to take forward at least one action as a result of attending the day!