Espoo on a crusade against food waste

The city is experimenting with different ways to tackle the issue that has only grown in magnitude in recent years

Food waste and the issues it represents have only grown in magnitude over recent years. Cities across Europe, however, have been at the forefront of tackling it and have come up with different solutions meant to make food more widely accessible and to prevent stores from over-purchasing items and then throwing them away.

This autumn, Finland’s Espoo will be trialling its own approach to tackling food waste, engaging with stores, customers and all other stakeholders in order to figure out and test the best solutions that could alleviate the problem.

A structured approach

Instead of hoping for the best and believing that citizens and businesses will behave responsibly on their own, the city of Espoo and its partner in the Waste Hero project,  Tyrsky-Konsultointi Oy, will also spearhead a systematic review of operating methods and introduce ways to upgrade and innovate them.

The overall goal of the project is to prevent waste before it is generated and to optimize the use of raw materials that are at risk of becoming waste by further processing them into new products, for instance. The Waste Hero service will gather all manner of ways for business owners to reduce waste, from which individual retailers will then be able to select the operating models appropriate for their own store.

The first day of the Waste Hero initiative will be held on 10 October with a waste food experiment and a waste food day at K-Market Kilo. There, officials and project partners will discuss the topic of food waste and will engage with customers, presenting them with tips as well as structured guides on how they can tackle food waste on their own, at their own homes.