foodsharing – not a case for the garbage can

05 January 2023

Post originally written in: Deutsch

A new year is dawning and we are in good spirits that everything will be better now. We leave bad habits behind us. Instead, we want to exercise more, stop smoking or start the day with meditation - many of us are making resolutions for the coming year. But maybe you're also one of those people who don't think much of New Year's resolutions at all. Both are perfectly ok and no matter which group you belong to, I would like to share my New Year's resolution with you.

New Year's resolutions

I have firmly resolved to throw away less food. In our house, way too much ends up in the trash. Unfortunately, if you look at statistics, I'm not alone in this. According to the WWF, about 40 percent of all food produced is lost along the value chain. Every year, about 1 million tons of avoidable food waste are generated in Austria (valid figures from agriculture are missing, though). The immense food waste worldwide is responsible for about ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is almost twice as much as the annual emissions of car traffic in the EU and the USA combined. When we consider these figures, it's clear: We have to change something.

Too good for the garbage can

When I wrote an article about the World Acre Innsbruck in October and was allowed to be present at the harvest festival organized by the cooperative feld:schafft, I got to know the initiative foodsharing. This contributed to the "catering". There was bread, sweet pastries, fruit, vegetables, pudding and much more. So far so good, but also not exciting. What was exciting, however, was that all the products should have ended up in the trash. We could only enjoy them because they were saved from the garbage can by the foodsharing initiative. This made me curious and I really wanted to learn more. Therefore, I am very happy to be able to tell you about foodsharing, because it fits wonderfully with my New Year's resolution

What is foodsharing

The platform foodsharing.com celebrated a round birthday in December 2022. 10 years ago - on 12.12.2012 - it went online. Since then, the initiative has been campaigning against food waste, saving overproduced and unwanted food from the garbage can. Volunteer "food savers" pick up unsold food from bakeries, supermarkets or wholesalers and distribute it free of charge. "The top priority of Foodsharing is to save the food from the garbage can - whether we redistribute it to the homeless, refugees or in the neighborhood is the same," Verena Wagner - one of the food rescuers - explains to me. The food is distributed to those who want and need it. The rescued food is available to everyone in so-called "Fairteilern". These are shelves and refrigerators in public places, which are filled by the "food savers". In Innsbruck, too, there are currently four of them. So maybe, before you go to the supermarket next time, you will stop by at a "Fairteiler"

An award-winning initiative

in 2021, 13 projects in various categories competed for the 2021 Environment and Sustainability Award of the City of Innsbruck, which is endowed with a total of 5,000 euros. Among the four awarded projects is also foodsharing Tirol with its "Fairteilern". About 400 "food savers" currently support the project in Innsbruck. If you also want to become a food saver, have a look here. For an even better insight, I recommend this YouTube video. If you are a company and want to join the initiative, you can find everything you need to know here.

What can we do about this incredible waste?

It is very easy to shift the blame for food waste only onto the large corporations. But the fact is that half of the avoidable food waste in Austria occurs right at home. According to the WWF, up to 521,000 tons of edible food per household end up in the trash in this country every year. This corresponds to a value of up to €800.00. This is madness and absolutely unnecessary, but especially with the price increases we currently have to cope with, it is unimaginable how carelessly we handle our food.

It's all a question of appreciation

I have already dealt with the topic of food waste in my article about the World Acre. Claudia Sacher was kind enough to give us a few simple and easy-to-implement tips on how to avoid food waste. So best hop on over. I think it's especially bad when meat, meat products and fish end up in the trash. Everyone must decide for himself whether he wants to live vegan or vegetarian, or like me likes to eat meat from time to time. But the fact is that an animal had to die for our enjoyment. Rainforests and grasslands are cut down or burned for the production of animal feed. 93 percent of global fish stocks are either overfished or fished to their limits. When we stand in front of the meat counter at the supermarket, perhaps we should remind ourselves of this more often and really only buy what we need. In the end, it all comes down to appreciating our food.

All beginnings are difficult

I hope I was able to spark your interest in this important topic. If I'm completely honest, I'm grateful to be able to write this article and to be able to deal with the topic of sustainability even more. Because I am an absolute beginner when it comes to this. In our home, as I said, far too much ends up in the trash. I'm disorganized and buy too much of the wrong things. Then I'm overwhelmed with the masses of food and don't know what to cook. Maybe you guys feel the same way. If so, check out the Instagram page of foodsharing.de or foodsharing Innsbruck. There you will find information, practical lifehacks as well as recipes - everything you need to keep your food waste as small as possible. Food rescuer, blogger and author Verena Wagner also has a few things to say about this topic and about foodsharing Innsbruck. "Shelf life at least until means not fatal from...", for example, is one of her sentences that has burned itself into my mind. I definitely recommend the podcast "How to SDG!" from the University of Innsbruck. In episode 14 you can listen to the interview with Verena. Afterwards you will know everything you need to know about foodsharing in Innsbruck. The podcast is available on all common podcast platforms or on YouTube.