Press release
Minister McConalogue announces funding for Food Waste Reduction Projects
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
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 initiatives aimed at reducing food waste generated by food businesses, retailer/wholesalers, or suppliers in rural areas.
Minister McConalogue, while making the announcement of the successful projects with associated funding of almost €180,000, stated,
“As we emerge from difficult times 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 Departments 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.”
Notes for Editors:
Food Waste Reduction funding has been made available to the following successful projects:
• Clean Technology Centre, Cork Institute of Technology (CTC-CIT) – Provide a Savour Food Online Training programme for the industry for national roll out to tackle food waste in businesses, (€59,900)
• Food Cloud – this project seeks to investigate the potential for increasing surplus food redistribution from the Irish horticulture sector. (€59,400)
• 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. (€28,700)
• 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 – (€32,000)
ENDS