First national week to tackle food waste starts in Switzerland

A wide-ranging week of hands-on activities to tackle food waste

Keystone-SDA

Around 30 million meals could be saved if Swiss households did not throw away any food for a week. With this in mind, a large-scale national week against food waste is beginning on Saturday.

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From September 12-20, more than 50 organisations will be raising awareness of food waste under the slogan “Make the most of it!”, according to the organisers of foodwaste.ch and United Against Waste. Plans include Foodsave banquets, cookery courses, exhibitions and other hands-on activities.

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Each of the participating organisations and companies will use their own communication channels to demonstrate how food can be used more effectively in everyday life. Participants include various cantons from Aargau to Zug, retailers ranging from Aldi to Volg, and hospitality associations such as Gastrosuisse and Hotellerie Suisse.

The organisers back up their claim that the scale of food waste should not be underestimated with figures: in Switzerland, around 2.8 million tonnes of food are lost along the entire supply chain, from agriculture to private households. At home, each person throws away an average of 80 kilograms of food per year, which corresponds to a purchase value of CHF600 ($735).

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