Category: Press release

In the second half of 2024, Foodsharing Luxembourg proudly celebrated its 5th anniversary, marking a significant milestone in the mission of the association to reduce food loss and waste. What began as a small group of friends meeting in December 2018 to brainstorm ideas has now grown into a vibrant, volunteer-driven movement with 825 members.

Founded in August 2019 with just seven members, the association quickly gained traction and established itself as a key player in the fight against food loss and waste in Luxembourg. Since its inception, Foodsharing Luxembourg has successfully implemented various initiatives, including the highly effective Foodsaving and Foodsharing Points projects. These initiatives have proven to be a success, despite initial skepticism and challenges, helping to redistribute more than 923 tonnes of food.

“We are incredibly grateful to all our active members, as well as the brilliant shops, partners, and funders who have supported us over the past five years,” said Daniel Waxweiler, co-founder. “Our growth and success would not have been possible without their dedication and commitment to our mission.”

To mark the occasion, Foodsharing Luxembourg hosted a celebration event in September 2024 at Batiment IV in Esch-Alzette, where members gathered to celebrate the milestone. The event featured workshops, lively discussions, music, and, of course, cooking with food leftovers – all reflecting the core values of sustainability and community that have defined the organisation since its founding.

The future: a national strategy against food waste

According to Eurostat 147 kg of food is wasted per person per year in Luxembourg [1]. Foodsharing Luxembourg believes that our responsibility to combat food waste extends beyond just reducing immediate waste – it’s about preserving resources for future generations.

As the organisation looks ahead, Foodsharing Luxembourg continues to push for greater change on a national level. “While we’re proud of our achievements, we remain committed to advocating for a national strategy and legislation against food loss and waste,” said Hannah Proffitt-Perchard, Communication circle Representative. “Our biggest wish for our 5th anniversary is to see the government take more decisive action in addressing food loss and waste, which remains a significant issue both locally and globally.”

Minimise food waste during the holiday season

The end-of-year celebrations often bring large quantities of food, whether at family gatherings, company parties, or festive events. To help reduce waste, plan ahead by having plenty of containers on hand to store leftovers. Encourage guests to take some home, ensuring that nothing goes to waste. Small actions like this can make a big difference in minimising food waste during the holiday season.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20220925-2

According to the ILRES survey on food waste in Luxembourg of September 2022 [1], a large part of the population has the desire to waste less food. The only thing is that people often do not know how to achieve this. Foodsharing Luxembourg and the Foodsharing Akademie are offering free interactive workshops on the weekend of 19 and 20 August at the “Kolla x Mersch” festival in Merscher Park.

With various activities on the topic of food appreciation and food rescue, the food rescuers want to reach a broad audience there. On Saturday, there will be an introduction to the global context of food waste, an information event by Foodsharing Luxembourg and a film screening of “Taste the Waste” followed by a discussion. On Sunday, the day will start with a snipping disco. Everyone can join in and chop vegetables and fruit, which will be prepared on site and offered to everyone. In between, you can watch a juggler and learn to juggle yourself. This will be followed by a workshop on racism issues in the context of food rescue initiatives and another info session by Foodsharing Luxembourg.

You can find the exact programme with names of speakers, times and languages on our project page: https://www.foodsharing-akademie.org/barcamp-festival/

Around one third of all food produced worldwide is not consumed [2]. The resources it contains, such as labour hours, water, transport, etc., are thus equally wasted. This has devastating effects on the environment and the climate. According to a March 2023 study from the journal Nature Food, food loss and waste was responsible for 9.3 gigatonnes of CO2e in 2017 [3]. This corresponds to almost one third of the total global CO2 emissions in that year and almost the CO2 emissions of the USA and the EU together! For this reason, among others, it is also the declared goal of the United Nations to halve food waste and loss worldwide by 2030.

The latest figures from Eurostat on the problem in Luxembourg speak of an average of 147 kg of wasted food per person per year [4]. Two thirds of this occurs at home. Luxembourg is thus clearly above the already high EU average of 127 kg. There are effective solutions along the value chain, many of which could be implemented relatively easily by politicians, businesses and private households.

Foodsharing Luxembourg is a non-governmental organisation (a.s.b.l.) composed of over 700 volunteer members. The vision is that all edible food in Luxembourg is consumed. The volunteers fight food loss and waste by supporting the rapid exchange of food that would otherwise be thrown away. By raising awareness of this issue and its impact on the climate, the environment and society, and by driving systematic change, Foodsharing Luxembourg aims to drastically reduce waste.

The project partner Foodsharing Akademie aims to raise awareness on the topic of food waste through various educational offers and materials and to inform about global contexts and impacts. Learners are made aware of their own possibilities for action and motivated to take their own actions in order to achieve the desired multiplication effect.

On the same weekend, an international barcamp of the foodsharing movement will take place at the SNJ centre in Marienthal, focusing on better cross-border networking and learning from each other. Participants from Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria will be there and later in the day also at the festival in Mersch.

Both events are supported by the Erasmus Plus programme of the European Union and the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte.

For further information, please contact Foodsharing Luxembourg.

[1] ILRES survey, September 2022: https://antigaspi.lu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Ilres_Le-gaspillage-alimentaire_sept-2022.pdf
[2] United Nations on food loss and waste: https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
[3] Cradle-to-grave emissions from food loss and waste represent half of total greenhouse gas emissions from food systems: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00710-3.epdf
[4] Figures on food loss and waste in the EU from 2020 published by Eurostat, 2022: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20220925-2

Press Release Foodsharing Luxembourg, 21st March 2023

On the occasion of this year’s national elections and the urgent nature of the climate crisis, Foodsharing Luxembourg a.s.b.l. publishes demands on Luxembourg’s policy to combat food loss and waste.

“Around a third of all food produced worldwide is not eaten! [1]” says Michelle Kleyr, co-founder of Foodsharing Luxembourg, “The resources it contains, such as working hours, water, transport, etc., are also wasted.” This has devastating effects on the environment and climate. Daniel Waxweiler, co-founder of the association, explains: “According to the IPCC report of 2019, between 2010 and 2016 alone, food loss and waste were responsible for 8 to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions.”

Michelle Kleyr points to the striking national situation: “In Luxembourg, according to the latest Eurostat figures, this corresponds to an average of 147 kg per person per year.[2] Two-thirds of these are generated at home, well above the already high EU average of 127 kg.” There are effective solutions along the value chain, many of which could be implemented relatively easily by politicians. Other EU countries, such as France, Italy, Romania, Spain and the Czech Republic, have already introduced legal measures against this. Daniel Waxweiler emphasises: “We urgently need an improved legal situation against food loss and waste in Luxembourg!”

Our 9 demands were published on our website in February and sent to environment and agriculture ministries as well as to all parties.

• Demands in English
• Demands in French
• Demands in German (PDF)

Several Luxembourg organisations have already expressed their public support for our demands. The list is constantly updated on our website.

[1] United Nations on food loss and waste: https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
[2] IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, August 2019, Chapter 5: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2019/11/08_Chapter-5.pdf 
[3] EU food loss and waste figures 2020 published by Eurostat, 2022: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20220925-2