Figures show that, in Luxembourg, 124 kilograms of food are wasted per inhabitant each year. In the majority of cases, food is thrown away despite still being edible.
To fight food waste, the municipality of Tuntange has put in place a communal self-service fridge to give leftover food a second chance. Food items can be purchased at small prices.
The Hollenfels youth hostel, where roughly 300 meals are cooked each day for various organisations, initiated the anti-waste project. The general manager, Stéphane Mossay, noticed that an increasing amount of food was being thrown away, with an estimate of up to 20 tonnes per year. More or less half of the surplus food is still perfectly fine to eat.
This is where the idea for the new concept stems from. Surplus meals are put in containers and taken to the anti-waste fridge in Tuntante where they are sold at reduced prices. Anyone can buy meals from the fridge at three euros for 400 grams of food. The system is based on trust: the fridge door is not locked and money has to be put in a box next to the fridge.
500 such meals have been sold since the start of the initiative in September. So far, the project has managed to avoid 250 kilos of food waste in the past six weeks.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the municipality of Helperknapp support the project. Minister Romain Schneider thinks that, whilst the initiative is currently working on a small scale, it is an important project. He reminded residents that shopping responsibly by choosing local and seasonal produce alone can have an impact.
The Ministry of Agriculture has signed an charter with the Luxembourg Youth Hostel Association and an anti-waste campaign will also soon be launched.
For further information, visit antigaspi.lu.
