Selina Juul | Stop Wasting Food

United Against Food Waste

What can the Holy See, the Vatican and the Catholic Church do to engage in the fight against food waste?

Food waste is a global scandal. There are over 7 billion people on this planet, of which 795 million are starving. Yet, annual food losses and waste are 1.3 billion tons of food – or enough to feed 3 billion people. In 2013 His Holiness Pope Francis said: “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry”.

Focusing on climate change is becoming more and more important in our everyday lives, and climate change is impossible to overlook. Many citizens of the world feel uncertain about what they need to do to reduce their personal CO₂ emissions. Fortunately, stopping food waste is among the lowest-hanging fruits.

According to the UN, approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from food production, which includes agriculture, livestock and land use change, thus making food production the world’s third largest CO₂ emitter. Also, according to the UN, a third of all the world’s food is either lost or wasted. According to Paul Hawken, one of America’s notable environmentalists and the initiator of Project Drawdown, which is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming, reducing food waste is ranked third among the world’s top 10 climate solutions. Individuals can therefore make a big difference to climate, resources and the planet by reducing their food waste.

It’s time to end the global food waste scandal. It’s time to actively engage the 1.313 billion Catholics all over the world to take action to stop wasting food. The Stop Wasting Food movement, World Resources Institute and WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme) propose to team up with the Catholic Church to create a global campaign against food waste aimed at, and engaging, the 1.313 billion Catholics all over the world. The campaign could be launched with the approval of and support of the Holy See, the Vatican and the Catholic Church and even perhaps His Holiness Pope Francis.

The Stop Wasting Food movement, World Resources Institute and WRAP suggest that the Holy See, the Vatican and the Catholic Church create a joint global campaign against food waste aimed at and engaging the 1.313 billion Catholics all over the world. There are examples of successful campaigns which could be developed, adapted and built on to create a campaign tailored for the Catholic Church. The two main global examples are the Stop Wasting Food campaign and the Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

Such a joint global Catholic Church campaign against food waste could be a combination of: 1) messages (raising awareness and call to action), 2) messengers (who deliver the messages), 3) modes (how the messages are communicated – a mix of methods) and 4) means (how one makes it easy for people to take action, tips etc.).

The campaign should be on more than one level – some led by His Holiness Pope Francis but also implemented locally by individual Churches (tailored to local situations alongside some high-level messaging by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Cardinals).

The campaign needs to be aimed at both members of the Catholic Church reducing their food waste but also with them acting as role models in their local communities to help drive community-wide reductions. The campaign needs to address different countries in different ways, thus there should be some key stages: 1) developing the approach, 2) pilots in some chosen countries and evaluation and, 3) wider roll out and implementation in more countries.

What can the Holy See, the Vatican and the Catholic Church do to engage governments of the world in the fight against food waste?

Advise and engage the governments of the world to set up National Food Waste and Food Loss Prevention and Reduction Targets. Those Reduction Targets must be aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 as well as the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package.
Advise and engage the governments of the world to initiate National Knowledge Centers on Food Losses and Waste. Those must provide and share national and international best practices in Food Waste and Food Loss Prevention and Reduction. The most effective ones can be studied and replicated.
Advise and engage the governments of the world to initiate National Food Loss and Waste Prevention Funds to provide ongoing financial support for national initiatives, projects and organizations against food waste in the entire value chain from farm to fork – from researchers to NGOs and campaigners. If there is no money for the fight against food waste, the fight against food waste will die out.
Advise and engage the governments of the world to focus on the prevention of food waste rather than on reducing food waste. The prevention of food waste is, for example, prevention of the overproduction of food. As for reduction, it is, for example, giving surplus food to charities. Improving forecasting accuracy and planning process they actively increase the efficient utilization of food. It is good and important to donate surplus food to charities, but it does not prevent the root cause: the overproduction of food. And it is even more important to work on preventing the overproduction of food to begin with. However considerate it is when a food producer donates five pallets of surplus food to a local charity, it is still a symptom treatment, it does nothing about the root of the problem. Thus, the problem must be solved at its root – and the overproduction of food must be addressed.

Short overview of successful interventions and organizational solutions to tackle food losses and food waste, including business cases, partnerships, scale-up solutions, innovation and alliances of different actors

Successful Intervention 1 – Ugly Vegetables:
Three hundred and seventy tons of “ugly” vegetables saved in Denmark in just two years. Sale of ugly vegetables in Denmark is on the rise: ugly, bendy, natural-looking cucumbers, tomatoes, Ugly Tomato Ketchup and other imperfect vegetables are now being sold in Danish supermarkets. In the last two years (2018-2020), Danish consumers bought 370 tons of “ugly” and imperfect vegetables, which otherwise would have ended up as farmers’ garbage.

The national collaboration is powered by the Stop Wasting Food movement, REMA 1000 Denmark retail chain, Salling retail chain and Denmark’s biggest farmers, Alfred Pedersen & Søn ApS, in collaboration with Gartneriet Ostervang Sjaelland, GASA Odense and GASA Nord Gront Amba. Ugly vegetables are being sold in supermarkets and they are 15% cheaper than “normal” vegetables – and at the same time the initiative supports the Stop Wasting Food movement. A study conducted by Epinion for the Stop Wasting Food movement shows that over half of Danes (55%) prefer to buy a food product if it shows that it contributes to less food waste. The initiative received a lot of media attention in Denmark and internationally. This successful collaboration will continue and it will expand to several more food brands.

Successful Intervention 2 – Cookbook with H.R.H. Princess Marie
Denmark’s biggest enthusiast against food waste, well-known chefs and Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Denmark have teamed up for a new cookbook against food waste, which was published at the end of 2019. The cookbook is aimed at families, inspiring greater respect for food, saving time and money and, at the same time, helping the environment.

Every year, over 700,000 tonnes of good, edible food are thrown away in Denmark. The biggest food wasters are households, and especially families with children, who face the greatest challenge to use up all their food. Every year, an average Danish family wastes food worth 7,200 DKK – equivalent to 964 Euro or 1,077 USD. Tangible, easy tools are needed to help families avoid food waste and to put the trash bin on a diet. That’s why the Founder of Stop Wasting Food movement, Selina Juul, brought together some of Denmark’s most dedicated food waste fighters: Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Denmark, renowned TV chef Timm Vladimir, food entrepreneur Anh Lê, gastronomic superstars Francis Cardenau and Michel Michaud, as well as cookbook author Louisa Lorang. Together, they have written a useful simple cookbook with a focus on food waste, entitled Food with Respect – A family cookbook that reduces food waste, published today by Gyldendal publishing house.

All the recipes in the book are based on food products that are among the most wasted types of food in Danish households. Food with respect also provides guidance for storing leftovers, smart meal planning and food shopping – all in order to reduce food waste. The book’s 80 recipes in total were prepared by the aforementioned contributors. Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Denmark wrote the book’s foreword and contributed with her own recipes. The cookbook Food with Respect gives Danish families good, easy and hands-on tools to become better at using food, saving money and helping the environment.

The book is a great collection of good advice, recipes, tips and suggestions on how a family can become even better at using all the food. Avoiding food waste is about showing more respect for food – and for the whole enormous process that provides food on our plates.

Each sold copy of Food with respect triggers a donation to DanChurchAid, an NGO working to fight hunger in Africa.

The book will be translated into international languages and has already generated big national and international attention. The book is also a Danish Winner of the 2020 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in the “Family” category.

Successful Intervention 3 – Christmas Surplus Food

The annual “Christmas Surplus” national initiative was founded in 2015 by the Founder of Stop Wasting Food movement, Selina Juul. The Stop Wasting Food movement and its NGO partners, for example Danish People’s Aid, collect surplus Christmas food from 300+ REMA 1000 supermarkets every December 23rd. It is good Christmas food that customers won’t buy after supermarkets reopen after Christmas. The food gets collected by volunteers in 300+ REMA 1000 supermarkets and around 10 food insecure families per supermarket arrive on the evening of December 23rd to collect free surplus Christmas food worth 80 Euro per family. In one day, over 30 tons of food are saved due to the “Christmas Surplus” national initiative.

The annual "Christmas Surplus" national initiative can be replicated before any other holiday where the supermarkets are closing for the holidays – Christmas, Eid, Easter, etc. – and it can be replicated all over the EU – as well as all over the world. Since its initiation in 2015, the “Christmas Surplus” national initiative has helped feed approximately 50,000 food insecure citizens and saved approximately 150,000 tons of surplus food from going to waste.

Action plan:

Every December 23rd, Danish supermarkets turn into local food banks.
Volunteers from Stop Wasting Food and its partner NGOs collect surplus food in the supermarkets, which otherwise would be wasted, just before the supermarkets close for the holidays.
10 food insecure families per supermarket show up on the evening of December 23rd and collect the food, which is handed to them by volunteers.
30 tonnes of surplus food is saved in just one day and over 10,000 food insecure people get free food.

Why is “Christmas Surplus” successful?

More and more NGOs, charities and retail chains are copying the initiative – thus more and more food insecure citizens are helped – and more and more food is being saved.
It is a very cost-effective initiative powered by volunteers and supermarkets. The only thing necessary is 5-6 months of planning ahead.
It attracts a lot of positive media attention and raises awareness about food waste.
“Christmas Surplus” is empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality by involving volunteers of all races, nationalities and religions in a common goal to stop wasting food, saving food and feeding food insecure people.

Main insights gained from "Christmas Surplus”

Need to collaborate with professional NGOs who have access to approved data of citizens below the poverty line, in collaboration with municipalities and authorities.
It is important to only give surplus food to citizens below the poverty line, who are approved by professional NGOs, municipalities and authorities – not to people off the street claiming to be poor.

Great support

The initiative even won Royal support by H.R.H. Prince Joachim of Denmark, H.R.H. Princess Marie of Denmark, and the Danish Minister for Environment and Food through a fundraising Charity Dinner in 2016.

Conclusion

“Christmas Surplus” can be upscaled anywhere in the EU and the world in the days before Christmas, Easter, Eid and other holidays, before supermarkets close.
It is a very tangible, hands-on approach to stop food waste and to feed food insecure citizens.
It generates a lot of positive media attention, has a very big potential for collaborations and sponsorships. It is a very positive way to raise awareness about food waste and, at the same time, save food and feed food insecure citizens.

References

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-food/wasting-food-is-like-stealing-from-poor-pope-says-idUSBRE9540OZ20130605

http://www.fao.org/3/a-bb144e.pdf

https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/food/reduced-food-waste

Stop Wasting Food movement: www.stopwastingfoodmovement.org

World Resources Institute: www.wri.org

WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme): www.wrap.org.uk

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg12

https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste/eu_actions_en

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-food-waste-vatican/vatican-conference-urges-governments-to-tackle-food-loss-and-waste-idUSKBN1XM1R4

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