merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D. has announced the projects that will receive funding this year from his Department, under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund, for food waste reduction initiatives.

Minister McConalogue, while making the announcement of the successful projects with associated funding of almost €180,000, said

“I am delighted that we can continue to support projects in rural areas in reducing food waste and contribute to our commitment to reduce the amount of food we waste in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals - including SDG 12.3 which calls on all nations to halve food waste and reduce food loss by 2030.  These initiatives will further enhance the work previously funded to identify, target and address what is a rapidly growing issue not just here in Ireland, but globally. Ireland generates over 1 million tonnes of food waste each year. It is now more important than ever to continue to develop initiatives to help to address this issue”.

“The Food Waste Reduction projects are funded from my Department’s Rural Innovation and Development Fund and so they will also serve to address that fund’s overall objective of energising the rural economy by encouraging innovative job creation and sustainable enterprise development”.

“This week is National Food Waste Recycling Week, which is an opportune time to think about how we as individuals can contribute to reducing the level of food waste that is generated in our homes. Processing and transporting food uses a huge amount of resources. Continued focus on preventing food waste and recycling food waste will help individuals and households to reduce our carbon footprint, save money, and also demonstrate that we value and respect the work of our farmers, fishers, and other food producers.” 

Notes for the Editor:

• Funding has been made available to the following successful projects:

FOOD WASTE REDUCTION

•  Clean Technology Centre at Munster Technological University – the continued development and roll out of the Savour Food Programme (€59,000)
• Food Cloud – FoodCloud Apple Gleaning Project. (€60,000)
•  Foodie Save – this is the further development and expansion of a mobile application (app) which allows businesses in the commercial food sector to sell their unsold surplus food at the end of their business day thereby reducing food waste. (€30,500)
• Carlow County Council – Delivery of a new programme “Optimization+” which brings together supports for SME’s in the Food, Drink and Hospitality Sector to develop an effective circular economy model for their treatment of food and food waste – (€30,500)

National Food Waste Recycling Week which runs from the 30th May until the 6th June 2022 is a new national campaign from MyWaste.ie to encourage people to recycle their food waste.

A study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that approximately 50% of household organic waste was being disposed of in the wrong bins. By segregating food waste correctly, it can be transformed into renewable energy and bio-fertilisers for horticulture and agricultural use.

ENDS