Gipuzkoa will measure its food waste rate

Thanks to an agreement with the University of Deusto

The authorities of the Basque province of Gipuzkoa (in the north of Spain) and the University of Deusto signed a collaboration agreement on 27 May that will pave the way to the development of a methodology to measure the food waste on the territory of that province. The provincial government was represented by the Department of the Environment, which committed € 10,000 to the aforementioned university for the development and application of the methodology and to also carry out an analysis of reduction opportunities.

Knowing your bad habits is the first step to correcting them

In this project, the University of Deusto proposes to initiate the development of a methodological process to study the patterns of generation of organic waste – including food waste-, to study its environmental impact and its prevention, as well as to study the influence of the pandemic on these variables. 

The deputy for the Environment, José Ignacio Asensio, recalled that it is estimated that in Gipuzkoa every year 123,000 tons of waste are generated and that when food is wasted “not only is the uneaten food lost, but all those resources used for its production are also wasted”. Such resources are the use of land, nutrients, water and energy used for production, transformation and transport, as well as the corresponding greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Consequently, food waste must be understood as a global problem, ethically unacceptable, socially unfair, and economically and environmentally unsustainable," concluded Asensio.

This initiative is part of the Comprehensive Urban Waste Management Plan of Gipuzkoa 2019-2030 which pays special attention to the problem of food waste and proposes the development of numerous actions aimed at preventing food waste, as well as to raise awareness on this issue.

That Plan, through the Observatory for the Prevention and Management of urban waste, also contemplates actions of characterization and compiling statistics of waste, which can promote the drawing of conclusions on food waste and thus help design future prevention and reuse measures.