Panel discussion at MicroAtelier, 28.09.2023, photo by Maria Endner
In the context of the national elections, we had a panel discussion on the topic of the fight against food loss and waste on the 28th September with the moderator Patrick Azevedo and the following guests:
Experts
Dr. Rachel Reckinger, uni.lu
Estelle Flammang, on.perfekt
Svenja Zelder, IBLA
Representatives of the parties:
Jeff Boonen, CSV
Chantal Gary, déi gréng
Eric Weirich, déi Lénk
Luc Emeringer, DP
Olivier Bichel, LSAP
Josiane Engel, Piraten
As everyone agreed that more needs to be done, we hope for a legislative initiative in the next legislative period!
Many thanks for the participation of our guests, for the interest by the people in the public, for the co-organisation with our partners MICROTARIANS S.à. r.l.-SIS and natur&ëmwelt a.s.b.l., and for the financial support by the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte!
Panel discussion poster at MicroAtelier, 28.09.2023, photo by Maria EndnerDrinks at panel discussion at MicroAtelier, 28.09.2023, photo by Maria Endner
In the frame of the national elections, Foodsharing Luxembourg supports the One Planet Luxembourg manifesto to ask that its demands are discussed in the election campaign and taken into account in the coalition negotiations that will follow the municipal and national elections.
RESTwithEU launches its Open Call programme, where restaurants, startups and solutions providers from all Europe come together to solve the restaurant sector challenges.
We have some not so good news. Foodsharing Luxembourg on the 31st January 2023 made the hard decision that the Distribution Days will cease to operate.
The Distribution Days project faced internal problems and according to EU legislation are classified as a ‘business’, which meant they needed to comply with food standard regulations, which were difficult for a voluntary-run association.
The Distribution Days lead people to believe the whole of Foodsharing Luxembourg is a charity. Our main focus is the environmental aspect of food loss and waste, and we don’t want to compete with the many established charities providing professional support. We understand this perception during these difficult times, however this was never our goal. Our long-term aim is to have laws tackling food loss and food waste, so that the amounts of food that are thrown away are dramatically reduced.
Also, the Distribution Days were not in line with their goal of distributing large quantities any more. The main reason is that some businesses have now dramatically reduced their quantities, so this food could easily be shared between Foodsavers. We as an association are happy about this reduction in food waste!
We recognise the huge contribution of the Distribution Days. There has been a lot of energy, passion and time put into them. We would like to thank everyone helping out at or coming to Distribution Days for their contribution to our vision to make sure that “all edible foods in Luxembourg are consumed”!
Our Foodsaving project will take over picking up and redistributing the food designated for the Distribution Days. If you want to join us as a Foodsaver, register. Our next information sessions will be announced in the upcoming weeks and are open for everybody interested to become active in Foodsharing Luxembourg.
After our first call, our working group “Political work” at Foodsharing Luxembourg received interesting input. In addition to the situation in canteens and shops, we were e.g. told that subsidies are paid for the sowing of potatoes, not for harvesting them, and thus for reasons of profitability they often rot away meaninglessly on the fields. As your insight into different areas is really helpful for our work to improve the national legislation on food loss and waste, we extend our call.
Where do you see problems in the system? Are you aware of mistakes that lead to waste? Please contact us by November 6 at moien@foodsharing.lu.
The working group “Political Work” of Foodsharing Luxembourg is currently working on demands for an improvement of the national legislation on food loss and waste. The starting point should be an inventory.
For this, we would like your help! Where do the problems in the system lie? Are you aware of current failings that lead to food loss or food waste? Do you see patterns or contradictions in your everyday life, at work or at home that lead to waste?
Let us know at moien@foodsharing.lu by 15 October.
Nomadic Island is a social experiment which brings together a group of 11 artists from different EU countries and an intergenerational group of local residents. People between 12 and 99 years old can participate in the project, sharing the life of this temporary community on a daily basis.
The project is running from18.07.22 to 07.08.22 at Thillebierg, in Differdange. Participants stay a minimum of 5 consecutive days to contribute to the artistic creations and to the daily organisation of life at the camp.
Chef Antoine Carteri from Gastronomica Luxembourg will be cooking for all the participants.
Nomadic Island is looking for members and foodsavers who are willing to help implement the anti-waste policy of Nomadic Island. Antoine has his own food providers, but we would like to integrate with delivery from foodsavers. We would be grateful to collaborate with some of you for the pick-ups and the delivery of the saved food to the Nomadic Island camp, which is situated at the Thillebierg football stadium (Rue de l’Hôpital, 4581 Differdange).
The people who would collaborate with us could join the camp and its activities as participants of the project. They would then work together with the artists to create artworks and commit to our social experiment.
Please, find a flyer which briefly explains what it is about to participate in the Nomadic Island project. For more information on the project and the artists participating, please check the webpage of the Nomadic Island project.
Foodsavers and Foodsharing members who want to take part in the project and help us with saved food will not need to pay any participation fee.
The Luxembourg Food Education Days will take place in mid-June to address these and many other questions! There is something for everyone, from training for teachers to a chopping party, and a workshop designed especially for you foodsavers. But most importantly: a lot of fun, exchange and getting to know each other will be put forward. If you love this idea let’s connect and feel free to share it with your friends & family.
Why is so much food thrown away? And why do so few people know and care about it? How can we motivate others to take action against food waste and act more sustainably towards food?
We have put together a colourful programme – now all we need is you! Please register at:
The first international cooperation project between foodsharing Luxembourg and the foodsharing Academy in Germany has been running since the beginning of this year. With the help of funding from the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, the cooperation and exchange between the two food sharing networks in Luxembourg and Germany are to be expanded, the capacities of the partner organisation strengthened, and the implementation of educational activities in Luxembourg promoted. At the same time, both organisations can benefit from each other’s experiences and strengthen the international exchange in the fight against food waste. In the summer of 2022, the knowledge gained will be passed on in the form of a multiplier training course in Luxembourg where multipliers will be trained to implement educational activities.
Together with the Earthship project of CELL, we would like to implement joint educational projects. In mid-March, our project team visited the Earthship and its crew for the first time and received an impressive tour of the (not yet completely finished) building. The Earthship is built entirely from sustainable and recycled materials and aims to produce the human needs of light, heat, water and food in a self-sufficient and cycle-oriented way. A flagship for sustainable building and living!
Here at the Erdschiff, a wide range of educational programmes take place on the topic of sustainability and circular economy – and soon also on food waste and food appreciation. We are happy about the starting cooperation with this great project!
In June, we would like to hold our first educational seminar in Luxembourg. This will be aimed at teachers who can have the seminar hours recognised by the Institut de la Formation Education Nationale as further training hours. On the other hand, in the second part of the seminar, the Luxembourgish food sharers and all those who are interested in this topic would be addressed. For this, we need your input: what would you like to learn more about? What are the topics relating to foodsharing that interest you? Where could you use support from experienced coaches or team members?
If you have topics that interest you, would like to learn more about this project or would like to participate yourself – please write to our project coordinator Taalke Wolf: projektkoordination@foodsharing-akademie.org
