NewsletterFoRWaRD3 rd Edition Contents: Needs analysis results Project meeting in Budapest Needs analysis To be able to base the outputs of the FoRWaRd project on the real needs of companies and charity organisations, the project consortium undertook a research in Spring 2013. The objectives of the research were: to scan the public sphere for food waste data and already existing educational programmes and materials, to understand companies situation, attitudes and practices regarding food surplus, waste and donation, to understand the situation, attitudes and practices of charities that receive and distribute food surplus. The research covered Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland. For more information please visit our website at http://foodrecoveryproject.eu For food waste data and already existing educational materials and programmes we did internet-based desktop research. For surveying the companies and charities we jointly developed two separate questionnaires (one for food companies, one for food distributing charity organisations). Consortium partners then translated and used this questionnaire in different ways to gather responses. Food waste data In most of the countries covered no precise and reliable data on the quantity of food waste was found apart from the EUROSTAT data. There is a strong need to better measurement of food waste. Educational materials on food waste Most educational materials identified are targeted towards consumers (to reduce food waste in households). We did not find any online educational tool, material for the food industry or for charities the outputs of FoRWaRd will fill a gaping void. Survey Altogether 151 companies and 100 charities replied our questionnaires either online or through personal or phone interviews conducted by consortium partners. In general, charities were easier to approach and get the answers from. With companies partners had to have more patience and perseverance to obtain information. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Survey results: Companies Altogether about half companies were retailers and about 40% producers. Most companies (38) were from Italy. 40% of respondents were small size food retailers, 24% SME food producers. Accordingly, 40% of them operate locally, 33% nationally. Their food waste management often lack even the basics: 78% of responding companies say that they do have food waste, but 40% of these do not record the quantity of food waste. A third of those who track the quantity have daily updated data, 46% of respondents do not have a written policy on food waste, 34% of companies do not know how much they spend on treating food waste. Half of responding companies report to donate (at least a part of) food surplus to charities for human consumption, 23% give to employees and 18% to animals. 42 companies put food waste in communal waste bins. Figure 3: Companies answers on food surplus donation for human consumption Companies have a high level of trust (or low awareness of risks) towards charities: majority of donors do not sign a contract with the charity and even more of them (67) say they do not monitor the charities they donate to. Figure 1: Companies answers on food waste Taken together, marketing & planning (planning the produced quantity) are the most often mentioned (43%) reasons for wasting food, besides production (also 43%). Within planning, a major issue is that producers/importers are unable to foresee the quantity they can sell. They order/produce too much and this becomes food waste. Figure 2: Companies answers on quantity of food waste Respondents think that the following actions could reduce the quantity of food waste at their company: better planning of production quantities (54 companies), better coordination and communication with buyers (53 companies), better coordination and communication within the company, among departments (41 companies), better information system to keep track of when, how and why food waste is generated (38 companies). The reason for the food waste not reaching people in most cases is that it is not fit for human consumption (e.g. gets dirty), and that it expires before it could reach people. Also, quite a few companies lack information on donation possibilities (25), legal conditions (25), how to donate (16), whom to give it to (11). In terms of the development of food donation: 59 companies (39% of sample) said that they would like to increase the amount of food surplus donated for human consumption, 37 would like to develop monitoring of donated food, 36 would like to develop communication with charities and 34 would like to find more charities to donate food to. The results show that companies are mostly lacking information about taxation and regulations about food donation. There are also many companies that are interested in knowing more about the charities that need food donation. 81% of companies are willing to contribute to the work of increasing the food surplus transferred to people and about half of them are ready to try the outputs of the FoRWaRd project.
Figure 5: Companies answers on further participation in the FoRWaRd project Figure 4: Companies answers on development wishes Survey results: Charities 37% of respondents are food banks, 36% small, local charity organisations, the rest are institutions of local governments (11%) and national charities (13%). 98% of them do receive food donations, thus the sample was relevant. 80% of respondents are willing to try the outputs of the FoRWaRd project. 43% would also participate in the testing phase. Most respondents (64) receive donation from food bank(s), half of them from food producers and a third from agriculture, wholesale markets and food distribution companies. 43% receive donations daily or weekly, 15% only few times a year. In accordance with company responses, most charities (94) pick up donated food at the company. 73% of respondents distribute to other organisations, 65% directly to people in need. 25% cook food in their own kitchen. 45% contact recipients by phone. 39% do not need to contact as recipients come to or live in their premises. Development needs: Only 5 organisations do not document the act of donation. The most widely used documentation method (66%) is signing an acknowledgement of receipt. 30% have more than one documentation method. Most organisations have more than one food safety practice. The most used ones are: checking expiry dates, cleaning storage, cleaning vehicles. There is large room for development in this field. 39% of responding charities do not have contract with donors. Most organisations (50) who replied these questions would be able to distribute more food than they receive now half of them 2 to 8 times more. As expected, twice more organisations (95) can receive non-perishable food than frozen products (48). Only 62 organisations have fridges/freezers for storage and a small fraction has other facilities for chilled/frozen food. Figure 6: Charity organisations answers on further participation in the FoRWaRd project
Project meeting in Budapest On 19 and 20 June partners met in Budapest to discuss: regional reports: findings of regional investigation, existing materials, preliminary findings, needs analysis results (see above) and implications for the training, training plan: contents and methods, functions and functioning of the planned IT platform for recovery of unsold food, six months project quality evaluation results, dissemination plan, budgetary and financial issues, especially regarding the first year reporting, the Hungarian Foodbank Association presented shortly the FUSION project (7thFP project on Food Waste Reduction). Partners also visited the warehouse and the office of the host, the Hungarian Foodbank Association. Next steps The consortium will be developing the contents of the online training and other features by the end of this year and the training system will be available online by the beginning of 2014.
The FoRWaRd Consortium The FoRWaRd Consortium has mobilized all the necessary and required set of skills to perform the planned activities and reach the objectives of the project, involving all the players in the value chain necessary for implementing the training contents and platform and their assessment. Besides offering management consulting and advisoring, Eurocrea Merchant is also involved in providing training courses and in EU-Project management. Part of the team is constantly involved in searching the best funding opportunities offered by the EU Commission, and in designing and managing projects for themselves or for Italian SMEs. www.eurocreamerchant.it The European Retail Academy (ERA) Is an academic network, created in the first place to generate a B2B-dialogue amongst universities/colleges of applied science, but also to help those in the retail industry who might be looking for addresses of institutions in selected countries. http://www.european-retailacademy.org/ TEMPO is one of the largest training, consulting and advisory companies in the Czech Republic. It gained an excellent portfolio of experience and professional expertise. Currently composed by 3 independent divisions, this organization is covering areas related to the training, work with human resources and implementation of EU development projects. http://www.tempo.cz/ The main goal of the Hungarian Food Bank Association, which is part of the European Federation of Food Banks (FEBA) is to support the reduction of malnutrition and poverty by collecting and distributing food donations in Hungary. www.elelmiszerbank.hu Federation of Polish Food Banks (FPFB) is a non-profit organization, a voluntary association jointly created by different Food Banks in Poland. The mission of the FPFB is to fight food waste and to reduce the extent of malnutrition in Poland. www.bankizywnosci.pl Greenport Venlo is an economic network of businesses, organisations and institutions associated with the horticulture supply chain, its Innovation center was set up to support innovation in SMEs, focusing on 2 sectors: food & fresh and (agro) logistics. http://www.greenportvenlo.nl/nl/innover en The Lithuanian Food Bank daily collects and distributes food in 32 Lithuanian cities, mostly food collected from the retailers that otherwise would be wasted. The Food Bank run public campaigns advocating for food waste reduction, responsible consumption and healthy lifestyle. http://www.maistobankas.lt/ Avaca Technologies S.A. (AT) is an independent consultancy based in Athens Greece, which provides consulting, informatics and engineering services. It has an internal R&D team and has participated in the past in research projects either EU or funded by the Greek Government. http://www.avaca.eu Objectives of the project: To identify common strategies to bridge the gap of the labor market skill needs in the field of waste reduction and re-use of unsold foodstuff To train food suppliers in two directions: 1) how to reduce food waste, 2) how to recovery unsold and uneaten food. In brief, to train food waste managers To create, thanks to ICT, a virtual space, where training contents will be available, enriched with visual elements and simulations To give a practical simple solution to enable the natural matching of demand and supply of left-over foodstuff through an online platform To train also representatives of the charitable association willing to take part in the recovery phase To promote Corporate Social Responsibility in the European food supply sector.