Projects aimed at the reduction of food waste generated by firms in rural areas are to receive funding of almost €300,000 from the Department of Agriculture this year, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Barry Cowen has announced.
Minister Cowen noted that the projects will receive funding this year from his department, under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund.
The money is going to initiatives aimed at reducing food waste generated by food businesses, retailer/wholesalers, or suppliers in rural areas.
- Clean Technology Centre, Cork Institute of Technology (CTC-CIT) – continued development and national roll-out of the Savour Food programme which offers bespoke support to implement solutions tackling food waste that suit the individual needs of engaged businesses (€98,550);
- Food Cloud – the development of technology to alert volunteers when and where surplus food is available and what local charities can accept. It also includes the training and recruitment of volunteers as “food rescue heroes” (€100,000);
- Foodie Save – the development of a mobile 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 (€100,000).
Minister Cowen, while making the announcement of the successful projects with associated funding of almost €300,000, said:
“I am delighted that we can continue to support rural areas and the environment under this initiative.
“The food waste project will further enhance the work previously undertaken to identify, target and address what is a rapidly growing issue not just here in Ireland but globally. Ireland generates over one 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 also serve to address the fund’s overall objective of energising the rural economy by encouraging innovative job creation and sustainable enterprise development,” the minister concluded.