PRESS RELEASE Reduce food waste thanks to foodsharing and innovation in SMEs
Bari, 27 June 2019 - Sustainability, foodsharing, new economies of recovery, social innovation, contrasting food waste. These are the themes of the meetings promoted by the Puglia Region and ARTI - Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation, in collaboration with Legacoop and Polytechnic of Bari, which took place in Brindisi on 20 June, in Andria on 21, in Lecce on the 24th, in Foggia on the 25th and in Bari on the 26th, as part of the Innovative Networks for the Agrifood sector- InnoNets project.
The project, funded under the European territorial cooperation program Interreg VA Greece-Italy, which will end in April 2020, aims to encourage territorial cooperation between the Puglia Region and the Ionian Islands Region (in Greece) in the agri-food sector, through innovation facilitation processes for small and medium-sized enterprises, pursued through the activation of thematic living labs involving research organizations, businesses, local government bodies and civil society.
One of the key themes of InnoNets is the fight against food waste, which in Italy is worth almost 16 billion euros per year, about 1% of GDP. Food waste does not occur exclusively in large supermarket chains, as is erroneously thought, but especially at home (between 60% and 70% of the total). To limit the phenomenon, Law 166/2016, the so-called "anti-waste" law, whose first signatory was the honorable Maria Chiara Gadda, entered into force on 14 September 2016. The same law was then first transposed by the Puglia Region with the Regional Law of 18 May 2017, n. 13.
The roadshow, which just concluded, was divided into: morning sessions, in which the Puglia Region - Research, Innovation and Institutional Capacity Section and Active Social Inclusion and Innovation of Social Networks Section, and ARTI, which presented the InnoNets project and its opportunities, together with Legacoop Puglia; the afternoon sessions were dedicated to the testimonies of local communities, associations or bodies that deal with the recovery and redistribution of resources every day.
The testimony of the municipal administration started from Brindisi, represented by Isabella Lectors, councilor for welfare and social services and Roberto Covolo, councilor for youth policies, which is carrying out initiatives that push both on the recovery of resources and on cuts to surpluses, to meet the needs of the population in recent and increasingly serious and alarming years.
The experience of "The value of time" - Networked solidarity market, which aims to support and help poor families to face and prevent poverty and social exclusion through the opening of solidarity market such as access through donations, or food collections, without exchanging money, using a points card.
On June 21, InnoNets moved to Andria where Tania Guerra, from the Research, Innovation and Institutional Capacity Section of the Puglia Region, Riccarda d'Ambrosio, from the Active Social Inclusion and Innovation Section of the social networks of the Puglia Region, and Ruggiero Mennea, speaker of the regional law for the fight against food waste, no. 13 of 18 May 2017, presented issues that deal with the recovery and reuse of surpluses, also with the aim of forming a widespread culture that combats food waste, together with environmental risks and related costs borne by citizens.
Among the local testimonies, the Municipalities were given space with Roberta Rigante, councilor for Social Policies of the Municipality of Bisceglie, Irene Cornacchia, city councilor of Trani, Marco Costantino of Avanzi Popolo 2.0 and Franco Mastrogiacomo of “We Recover” Bisceglie.
On the third day the roadshow moved to Lecce, where Teresa Chimienti of the Active Social Inclusion and Innovation section of the social networks of the Puglia Region presented the programs and initiatives to support the reduction of food waste in the various cities of the region. In the afternoon, the testimonies of the territorial area of Lecce were presented by Silvia Miglietta, councilor for Welfare of the Municipality of Lecce, president of the Institutional Political Coordination of the Social Territorial Area of Lecce and Virginia Travi - official responsible for the Planning and Social Planning - Social Territorial Area of Lecce. The testimonies of Salvatore Esposito from the Emmanuel Community Emporium of Solidarity were interesting, explaining how through a food management software and one other dedicated to the insertion of data by all social workers, it is possible to enter the references of the families.
Contacts
ARTI - Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation
External Relations and Communication Service +39 080 96.74.217- 219
Puglia Region - Head of Communication of the Joint Secretariat
Carmela Sfregola +39 3493916007 [email protected]
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www.greece-italy.eu
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