Estonian Foodbank Piet Boerefijn HOW MUCH FOOD GOES TO WASTE? International seminar Footprints of Food: from data to awareness

Transcription

1 Estonian Foodbank Piet Boerefijn HOW MUCH FOOD GOES TO WASTE? International seminar Footprints of Food: from data to awareness

2 Tallinn Luhamaa 288,5 km 2

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5 Isn t this absurd? Waste of food is gigantic Yearly, tonnes of food is thrown away (excluding agricultural sector). Is kilo Is every day 972 ton Is every day 40,5 big trucks While many Estonians are hungry people do not have money to buy sufficient food. 16% of the children, often go to bed with an empty stomach (Tervise Arengu Instituut). Some children faint at school because they did not get any food at home. 5

6 Poverty in Estonia 18% lives below the poverty level children live in absolute poverty children live in absolute povery or in the riks of poverty = is every fourth child (Children Ombudsman). Social benefit is 77 euro per person per month. Every next adult in family gets 62 euro. Child support is 19 euro/month people do not have enough to eat. 6

7 Poverty in Estonia people do not have health care insurance (6%-8%). Minumum salary 290 euro (gross). Average pension 304 euro. Average own contribution for medicines is the highest in Europe (43%). In many poor families, children only at school get proper meals. State debt is the lowest in Europe, but personal debts are among the highest in Europe. 7

8 Estonian Foodbank aims: Fight waste of food Share food with people who are hungry Fight exclusion and poverty Promote healthy food 8

9 Estonian Foodbank Foodbank in Tallinn started in March Established by Estonian-Netherlands Charity Foundation and Swedbank. Supported by Open Estonian Foundation. Tartu (spring 2010) December 2010: Narva, Jõhvi, Rakvere, Viljandi, Pärnu 2011: Põlva, Haapsalu 2012: Paide-Türi 9

10 Who donates food? Supermarkets: Prisma, Rimi, Säästumarket and others Wholesale firms: Bambona, Eugesta, Transpoint, Smarten, NP Foods, ao. Producers: Valio, Fazer, Leibur, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Maag, Estover, Tartu Veski, Saku, Kalev, ao. Farmers + private people EU food programme 10

11 Why do firms donate food? Overproduction (especially with Christmas or Jaanipäev). Best before is near (if 1/3 of the shelf life is over, supermarkets do not take it anymore). Damaged package, mistake on label, wrong label, too much or too little content, content is different than label, potatoes are too small or too big, bananas are brown, cheese has wrong shape, carrots are bend, etc. 11

12 Tallinn Foodbank: who gets food support? Tallinn: 200 families every week Maardu: 40 families Around 30 charity organisations in Tallinn and Harju county All over Estonia: every week food is given to around 1200 families. Every week 110 volunteers help with distributing the food. 12

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15 Waste of food What people throw away yearly Denmark: 2,15 billion euro UK: 14 billion pound, 18 million tonnes Netherlands: firms 2,4 billion euro, households 2 billion euro > the energy that was needed to produce this food is 3 times more than all Dutch wind generators together 15

16 Waste of food Netherlands years: 180 euro/person/year 26-45: 160 euro 46-65: 125 euro more than 65: 30 euro 16

17 UK FareShare foodbank Bringing 1 ton of food garbage to the landfill costs 90 pound. Firms are happy if they can donate to FareShare. They bring the food for free and even pay 30 pound/ton on topp. 17

18 Food safety Many people are not good informed. Smoking or overweight are much bigger risks for health than unsafe food. There is a big difference between Best Before (Parim Enne) and To Be Used By (Kõlblik Kuni). Many people do not understand this and throw away all food that is over the date. 18

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20 Estonia: why it is easier to throw food away There are no tax incentives on donations (as in western-europe). Food laws are stricter and less clear than in western-europe. Food Authorities do not want to give out guidelines. Firms are afraid of scandals and problems with authorities. There is less social pressure. Waste disposal is relatively cheap. 20

21 Thank you! For more information, please look at And Facebook: toidupank 21