According to the 2020 Instytut Ochrony Środowiska study, the scale of food waste in Poland is enormous, amounting to nearly 5 million kilograms annually. Even though wasting takes place at every stage from production to consumption, according to the Intsytut findings, consumers are responsible for as much as 60% of waste. The results of the 2020 gumtree.pl study called ‘Second Life of Things’ indicate that only 50% of Polish consumers understand the idea of zero waste and respecting food, and only 29% try to implement it in their daily lives.
To address the above problems, we will promote the idea of zero waste and respecting food in 5 diversified (in terms of geography, history, and size) locations in Poland. We will select 5 Food Banks in Poland willing to conduct the project in their regions. We will recruit NGOs, local zero waste activists, as well as representatives of local authorities expressing interest in the project in selected location. We will run training on the idea of zero waste, respecting food, and recycling. We will run a design thinking session showing the problem from a more comprehensive perspective – presenting different points of view and preparing attendees to work with the local community. In each location we will set up an initiative group made of 5-10 individuals representing different sectors. We will run webinars on zero waste and respecting food for them. Then groups will run meetings with local communities discussing the problem of food waste and diagnosing barriers to preventing it. Based on these consultations, they will plan and implement social campaigns on respecting food in their locations.