Contents
We talked with the founders of food-sharing projects in our country about how to save products from disposal and reduce our food waste
We have long been accustomed to saving food and sharing it when we no longer need it: for example, we give a salad to guests or take away the leftovers of an order in a cafe. However, food sharing is not only possible at the local level: supermarkets and restaurants can also engage in this practice. Can foodsharing become a widespread practice in our country, and what should we do to achieve this?
The guests of the issue are Alexandra Legkaya, the founder of the food rescue project in our country, and Rudolf Ahn, the founder of the eatme app service.
The host of the podcast is Anastasia Chizhevskaya, a sustainability consultant and blogger.
Conversation timeline
2:49 — What is food sharing?
3:31 — How do your projects help save food?
5:18 — Why do people get involved in foodsharing?
6:49 — How to involve cafes and restaurants in food sharing and is it easy to do?
11:26 — How is food sharing related to retail?
14:11 — Legislative restrictions
15:10 — How to solve the problem of overconsumption at the legislative level?
21:14 — How to reduce food waste at home?
24:37 — What should I do if there is no food sharing in my city?
Who in our country is engaged in food sharing and how do these projects differ?
Alexandra: When I created a food sharing project six years ago, I relied on similar organizations that existed in Europe, but I did not find analogues in our country. My project is different in that it focuses on ordinary people, and the various institutions that participate do it for free.
Rudolf: The eatme app helps establishments and restaurants list food at a discount, and app users buy the food and pick it up at the establishments. The project has existed for almost two years and at the moment we have about 470 partners.
What are the benefits of foodsharing?
Rudolf: The foreign companies with which eatme app cooperates agreed almost immediately, as environmental awareness is often an important factor for them. As for Russian companies, they are primarily interested in profit, which is why we included a commercial component in our project: companies not only save food, but also earn money.
Many establishments don’t realize how much food they throw away because they don’t keep track of food. With the help of food sharing, cafes and restaurants not only learn to keep statistics of the products used, but also return the cost of products that would have been simply thrown away without food sharing.
Alexandra: My project is non-commercial. There is no business benefit here, so most people who use foodshare do it to help others or simply try to reduce their ecological footprint. For partners with whom the project cooperates, the main motivation is the eco-social agenda.
How can chain retailers join food sharing?
Rudolf: In Europe, about 15 million people use food sharing applications, and many stores give away food that is about to expire for free, but in our country there are several difficulties with this:
Now most of the world’s major companies are ready to reduce the amount of waste: for example, to make special products from “ugly” fruits and vegetables. In our country, work with food sharing is only developing, but in the near future investors will invest in such eco-projects.
Alexandra: Despite the fact that we do not cooperate with retailers, many people enter into individual agreements with network grocery stores: for example, you can pick up products at a certain time that have expired or will soon expire in the store’s warehouse. The system is different everywhere: somewhere you need to pay for the number of kilograms, somewhere – for the number of exports. Usually people come together and share the amount and quantity of products equally. Of course, you should understand that quality depends on the brand and type of store: some give away good quality products, and some give away damaged goods. Since stores are not allowed by law to sell expired products, they enter into a contract with a recycling company and this company already sells to customers.
How can we reduce the amount of food we throw away?
- Start keeping track of the foods we throw away the most.
- Sharing junk food with friends or neighbors.
- Keep a shopping list and take only what you need.
- Store perishable foods in containers.
Alexandra: we make many purchases because of hunger, because one way or another we will buy more than we really need. Foodsharing should ideally become common practice. To do this, you can start small: for example, organize a group in your area where people can donate food that they do not need.
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