ZERO_WASTE is a project whose main objective is to promote the social inclusion of rural areas in the field of education with content related to reducing food waste. As well as to improve the professional development of teachers by creating educational gamification tools with scientific content. Committed to the problem, ZERO_WASTE was born from a consortium of 6 members from 4 countries (Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Romania) that have decided to jointly address actions through education, as the way to contribute to tackling the problem of food waste and focusing on 3 main items: - Rural areas: addressed rural areas, this project intends to contribute to breaking the gap between rural and cities areas, opportunities for access to knowledge - Adult education: adult seeks the immediate application of new knowledge, without the intention of storing information for eventual or later use - Didactic training tools based on gamification and intended to use evidence-based inquiry methodologies as a starting point to foster critical thinking. To achieve this main objective it will be set up through the following strategic objectives: - To promote the social inclusion of rural areas in the field of education using scientific knowledge as a way to promote interest in the food system through the creation of alternative itineraries to improve capacities - To reinforce the support for adult teachers and the acquisition and development of basic skills and key competencies in students through a digital platform with content about food waste reduction - To develop creatively and appropriately the instruments created in the methodology for this purpose. - To create scientific content on food waste - To build a collaborative network of local, regional, national and European stakeholders with an attitude of commitment related to food waste reduction. - To raise awareness of food waste through reliable information, increase the scientific, technological and innovative culture with the creation of an open food waste digital toolkit As in the process, ZERO_WASTE has developed 3 intellectual outputs: a training methodology, a digital toolkit and role-playing games and a Good Practice Guide. In the framework of the project 12 adult teachers have been directly involved in the blended training activities, with the participation of 102 students that put into practice the tools offered. In addition, we have exceeded the expectations of the family school with a total of 342 people from all consortium member countries. Thanks to the materials developed and the work carried out, stakeholders, teachers and students will be able to integrate this new knowledge into other different works as a horizontal part of them, further disseminating Zero Waste's central purpose of raising critical awareness and promoting sustainable food.
The first step within the implementation was the set up of goals. Those goals are described as follows: - To promote the social inclusion of rural areas in the field of education using scientific knowledge as a way to promote interest in the food system through the creation of materials, the celebration of multiplier events and other events to improve capacities. - To reinforce the support for adult teachers and the acquisition and development of basic skills and key competencies carrying out the project in the schools using the didactic guides, games and good practice guides as a resource to reduce food waste reduction. - To build a collaborative network of local, regional, national and European stakeholders with an attitude of commitment related to food waste reduction, thanks to the family school newsletter. - To raise awareness of food waste through reliable information, and increase the scientific, technological and innovative culture with the creation of an open food waste digital toolkit that is available to all.
This project was born in a context where food waste is a problem that needs to be shown in order to contribute to its reduction and increase people’s awareness. We have found out that the impacts of food waste are wide and imply economic, social and environmental aspects. The food wasted each year is remarkably similar in low-middle-income and high-income countries, suggesting that most countries have room to reduce food waste. Therefore, they could benefit if they became aware of the problem. Reducing food waste has also an important social side. If a similar quantity of food were destined to feed the poorest, the fight against hunger could largely improve. To sum up, food waste reduction offers multi-faceted wins for people and the planet as saving money, improving food security, addressing climate change, as well as reducing the pressures on land, water, biodiversity and waste management systems. Being aware of this, our main objective was to reduce food waste, raise awareness on this topic and increase the scientific, technological and innovative culture. We have shared information with rural areas contributing to reducing food waste as well as improving teachers' professional development