Official Slovenian estimates from 2014 say, that we produce 55 kg of food waste per capita, of which 52 % occurs within households and the rest during production, transportation and sales. Ekologi brez meja previously focused on food waste in households with the project Volk sit, koza cela. On the other hand, the main goal of the Ne meč'mo hrane stran project is to determine the status and possibilities of food waste prevention in hospitals and elderly care homes, plus raise awareness in- and outside of these institutions. This is a consequence of our finding that nobody is actively working on food waste in the public sector and that the topic is not part of public debate. There is a clear need for reliable and fresh data on food waste management, particularly in the public sector, which can be an important role model for others when it implements efficient natural resource management.
 

Based on our work so far, we estimate that hospitals and elderly care homes produce significant amounts of food waste. Besides analysing this problem, we will promote the use of existing tools and develop new ones for monitoring and estimating the amount of food waste. Apart from the environmental benefits, food waste reduction can reduce operational costs. The result of our work will be two status reports from two real institutions, guidelines and tools for food waste prevention, both also publicly acessible on these webpages.

 

At the same time, an awareness raising campaign will aim to further sensibilise the public about the problems of food waste. Therefore, the second part of the project has expanded target groups. The campaign has started with a Slovenian premiere of the documentary Just Eat It on October 17th in Kino Šiška, with more multimedia content to follow.

 

The third part of the project will be done in cooperation with Zveza društev upokojencev Slovenije (network of associations for the elderly), where we will organise screenings of Just Eat It in several organizations and hold workshops for the elderly and school kids. Their aim is to encourage intergenerational cooperation and the passing down of lost and forgotten practices of frugal use of food. We consider this improved cooperation and knowledge transfer to be vital for a successful change of habits when it comes to natural resource use..