Written by: Tamás Szallabek
From: VIMOSZ
The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is the biggest EU funded campaign to raise awareness about waste prevention. It started in 2009 initially as a LIFE project and by 2017 it became financed through the European Steering Committee. The main objectives include promoting waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, as well as mobilizing citizens, schools, businesses, and NGOs to organize related activities. It is coordinated by 33 coordinators across 18 countries.
The project creates communication materials, organises trainings but the main task is, surprisingly, the annual European week for waste reduction which revolves around a theme that varies each year. All kinds of organisations are invited to spread the message and ultimately to reduce waste together. These actions involve campaigns such as strict avoidance and reduction at source, waste sorting and recycling, clean-ups and waste reuse. Each year, outstanding initiatives are awarded regionally and at the European level. In 2024, the focus was on food waste. Over 12 000 actions were registered from 29 countries during the 16th event that took place in the week of 16-24 November.
The winners for the Hungarian regional award were announced on 30 January, at the closing event of the Hungarian EWWR. A total of 300 organisations entered 500 actions for the award.
Among many innovative solutions, the National Food Chain Safety Office’s programme Wasteless (Maradék nélkül) came first and was nominated for an international award. The programme, in partnership with the University of Veterinary Medicine, has been monitoring household food waste since 2016 and is a national leader in awareness-raising, with a special focus on young school children and teachers.
The WASTELESS project (Grant Agreement n° 101084222) is working closely with the University of Veterinary Medicine to further reduce food loss and waste and congratulates them for their outstanding achievement.