International Conference

Sustainable Food & Biowaste Management

ACR+ and its member WasteServ Malta organised an international conference on sustainable food and biowaste management on 31 May 2016 in Valletta (Malta).

The full-day conference was opened by European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, as well as Malta Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, Hon José Herrera.

Karmenu Vella insisted on the importance of preventing food waste stating that "reducing food waste is the easiest and most effective way to reduce pressure on the environment." He also reminded that food waste is included in the Circular Economy Package adopted by the European Commission, requiring Member States to reduce food waste, monitor levels and reporting on progress. The European Commission will be proposing a common EU methodology to measure food waste and will be setting up a new platform to make it easier to cooperate on these questions and share results. Regarding bio-waste, Karmenu Vella explained that the European Commission is looking to manage bio-waste more effectively. And this is why it has proposed a separate collection of bio-waste, to "improve recycling generally and [...] also close a loop, when biowaste goes back to soils in the form of compost and fertiliser."

The conference included sessions by a mix of local and international speakers, with themes ranging from areas of concern regarding food waste and its prevention to territory-specific case studies on challenges and solutions for food waste management. There were also a number of presentations on bio-waste management best practices from around Europe and the Mediterranean region. Waste Serv Malta and 3 other ACR+ members presented their work in the field. Brussels’ strategy for sustainable food “Good Food” was explained in detail, followed by a presentation of how Scotland’s food waste reduction target is implemented by Zero Waste Scotland and an overview of supermarket food waste in France presented by ORDIF.

PRESENTATIONS

Session 1 – Putting in context

• Sustainable food and UN Sustainable Development Goals - The reasons for actions Francoise Bonnet, ACR+
• Cities and Regions - A vision for sustainable food Gregoire Clerfayt, Brussels and its “Good Food” strategy, Brussels Environment (BE)

Session 2 – Issues at stake on a territory level

• Horeca Challenges in Malta - Results of the Food Waste Working Group Dr Lisa Cassar Shaw, Chair Person of the Food Waste Working Group, Malta
• The Malta Tourism Authority Eco-certification scheme and a case study on hotel food waste separation John Magri, Malta Tourism Authority, Malta and Stephen Bezzina, Le Méridien St. Julians Hotel & Spa, Malta
• Making Food Last – Implementing Scotland’s Food Waste Reduction Target Ian Gulland, Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland, UK
• Supermarket Food Waste in France Jean-Benoit Bel, Project Manager at ORDIF, France

Session 3 – Biowaste management best practices

• Optimising separate collection in Mediterranean areas and quality composting Dr Marco Ricci-Jürgensen, ISWA International, Italy
• Anaerobic Digestion: Case study from Malta Ing Andrea Brincat, Chief Operations Officer, Wasteserv Malta
• Food Waste Collection Implementation in Malta and elsewhere, and EC Directive Obligations Adrian Gibbs, Eunomia Research & Consulting, UK
• Best practice composting initiatives from the NGO sector in Malta Alexandra Cachia, But Why Not?, Malta

 PRACTICAL INFORMATION

• Programme
• 31 May 2016, 09:00 - 18:00
• Mediterranean Conference Centre
  Mediterranean Street
  Valletta, Malta