Last December 12th, ICLEI hosted the third webinar of the City Interest Group (CIG) on Food Waste Prevention. The session delved into how local authorities can support HoReCa businesses in tackling food waste.
CIG members shared their experiences in engaging with restaurants and food services to prevent food waste. Sasa Straus from CHORIZO partner ITC presented findings from the project’s Case Study 3, reflecting on business owners’ perspectives and exploring potential collaborations with local authorities. Isabel Freitas Loureiro, co-owner of Restaurante aCozinha por António Loureiro in Guimarães, Portugal, provided a testimonial about the various strategic actions taken by aCozinha to become the first zero waste restaurant in Europe.
Lastly, Susana Freitas from the waste management authority of Greater Porto (LIPOR), Portugal and María Fernández Peral from the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain shared practical examples of initiatives implemented by frontrunning local authorities to collaborate with business owners in addressing food waste in the HoReCa sector. These contributions sparked a highly interactive discussion among CIG members, resulting in a set of recommendations for preventing food waste in the sector.
The CIG explores the various settings in which food waste is generated and discusses effective multi-stakeholder approaches tailored to those. In that regard, city representatives share their experiences, learn from CHORIZO case studies, and project insights can be extrapolated to their local realities and
reflected upon.
The CIG will meet three times per year until October 2025.
