*[Enwl-eng] SFB Weekly: Milan is winning the fight against food waste
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A solutions-oriented weekly digest from
Struggles From Below
12/11/21
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IMPORTANT: Where we're at...
Hi guys,
Thanks for bearing with us in recent weeks as
we've looked to raise the necessary funds to keep SFB in business. The
lowdown is that we've managed to raise around £300/month: just about enough
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In our top read this week, Reasons To Be
Cheerful's Peter Yeung explores Milan's groundbreaking “zero waste” strategy
aiming to leave no meal behind.
Milan is the first major city to enforce a
citywide food waste policy, relying on the wide-ranging cooperation of
public agencies, food banks, charities, NGOs, universities and private
businesses.
In 2015, Milan launched a new Food Policy
aimed at creating a more sustainable food system, involving local players
such as the city’s research centres, institutions, private sector and NGOs
as much as possible. The next year a memorandum of understanding, entitled
“Zero Waste,” was drawn up to halve food waste by 2030 and implement a new
method for recovering and redistributing surplus food.
Launched in January 2019, these Food Waste
Hubs collect produce from supermarkets and companies, as well as purchased
food aid, and give it to hundreds of Milanese families in need. The
Gallaratese Hub also provides social services such as legal aid,
psychological counselling, language classes and childcare support. Two other
hubs will launch in other Milan neighbourhoods in the next few months.
The School of Management of the Politecnico di
Milano, which conducted a feasibility study of the model and has been
monitoring operations, found that the first hub saved 77 metric tons of food
in the first year, and that today the city’s three Food Waste Hubs each
recover about 130 metric tons of food per year, or 350 kilograms per day –
equivalent to 260,000 meals. Through them, according to the Politecnico, 497
metric tons of CO2 are avoided in the production and then disposal of food
losses per year. The hubs are also using 30% of food that would have
otherwise gone to waste, compared with the national average of nine percent.
Huge gains, societally as well as
environmentally, could be made if progress continues. The global food system
generates a third of greenhouse gas emissions, yet a third of all food
produced for human consumption goes to waste – about 1.3 billion metric tons
per year. At the same time, 800 million people, around a tenth of the world’s
population, were undernourished last year.
“Each city around the world could apply this
model,” says Professor Segrè, a professor of agricultural policy at the
University of Bologna and scientific director of the Waste Watcher
International Observatory. “You need some competence, some knowledge, and
willing actors. But you can copy it easily.”
Read the article
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What we're reading:
Toronto is home to the world’s largest lake-
powered cooling system. Here’s how it works.
Deep lake water cooling (DLWC) is used to cool
over 100 buildings in the city. It saves enough electricity to power a town
of 25,000 – and it’s so popular the city is pursuing an expansion. THE
WASHINGTON POST
Forget net-zero: meet the small-nation,
carbon-negative club
Forested Bhutan, Suriname and Panama now
absorb more emissions than they produce. Can other countries join them?
THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
The ancient stepwells helping to curb India's
water crisis
Huge architectural gems built deep into the
Earth like inverted fortresses are scattered around India – and restoring
them may be a solution to help the country's parched communities. BBC FUTURE
Can farm waste help clean up the world’s dirty
cargo ships?
A California startup backed by the shipping
giant Maersk wants to turn America’s farm waste into clean fuel for mammoth
container ships. The company, WasteFuel, is working to build facilities
across the country that produce “bio-methanol” from corn husks, discarded
wheat straw, and other agricultural scraps — a low-carbon fuel produced in
tiny volumes today. GRIST
More parks and waterways in cities could
prevent premature deaths, study finds
The study found that up to 43,000 premature
deaths could be prevented annually in more than 1,000 European cities if
they achieved the recommendations set out by the World Health Organization
(WHO) in terms of residential proximity to green space. THE CONVERSATION
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One to ponder:
New technologies are promising a shortcut to
enlightenment
Brain stimulation. Neurofeedback. Synthetic
psychedelics. Can they deliver? VOX
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Quote of the week:
"Truth springs from argument amongst
friends." – David Hume
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Song of the week:
Roberto Roena - Traición
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That's it for today, folks. If you're enjoying
this newsletter, please do forward it on to any friends who might be into
it.
All the best,
Ollie
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Struggles From
Below
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rights reserved.
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Struggles From Below · 48b · Waller Road · London, SE14 5LA ·
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From: Struggles From Below
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2021 11:01 AM
Subject: SFB Weekly: Milan is winning the fight against food waste
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