Food waste goes far beyond simply throwing away meals.It triggers a chain reaction of environmental degradation, economic strain, and social inequality.Tackling this issue means confronting climate change, resource depletion, and indifference at the same time. This challenge is particularly pressing for young people, who inherit the consequences of today’s behaviors yet also hold the power to create change.Across Europe, each person wastes on average around 132 kilograms of food annually, more than half of which comes from households.According to Eurostat (2022), the EU generates an estimated 132 kg of food waste per person each year, with 54% of this amount, about 72 kg, coming from households, while the rest occurs along the supply chain in production, retail, and food services.Despite the EU’s circular economy goals, progress is uneven and awareness levels vary significantly between member states. Austria is among the leaders in sustainable waste management.The country recycles about 63 percent of its municipal waste, compared to the EU average of 48 percent, and sends only 2 percent to landfills, while the European average is over ten times higher.These achievements are impressive, yet they do not mask the persistent problem of food waste. Austrian households, retail, and hospitality sectors generate approximately 640,000 tonnes of avoidable food waste every year.This equals about 133 kilograms per person and represents a significant financial loss per household as well as an invisible environmental burden.Throwing away food means wasting not only a meal but also the water, energy, and human effort invested in producing it. In response, Austria has developed a range of initiatives.The nationwide campaign ‘Food is Precious!’ brings together over 100 stakeholders from government, civil society, and business. Organizations like Wiener Tafel redistribute surplus food to tens of thousands of people each year, while RepaNet combines reuse with social employment, and ECOPROFIT guides businesses toward waste reduction. These initiatives show that solutions exist, but they also underline a critical gap: awareness among young people is still limited, and habits are slow to change.As the saying goes, wasting food is stealing from the future. This project responds by equipping young people with tools to act. By gathering participants in Vienna, it treats food waste as both an ecological and social challenge requiring empathy, creativity, and responsibility. Participants will study the impact of waste, learn reduction and recovery strategies, and connect it with climate change and responsible consumption.Inspired by Austrian good practices, they will be encouraged to apply similar models in their own communities. The project highlights that sustainability begins with daily choices, which young people can turn into powerful examples for peers. The overall aim of the project is to empower young people to become active changemakers who reduce food waste in their daily lives and inspire others to follow their example. Building on this, the specific objectives are: 1. To raise awareness among youth on the scale and impact of food waste in modern societies. 2. To promote practical knowledge and strategies for food waste reduction and recovery. 3. To explore the link between food systems, climate change, and responsible consumption. 4. To empower participants to creatively transform food waste and raise awareness in their local settings. 5. To encourage young people to learn from best practices and replicate similar models in their own countries. Looking ahead, the European Union has recently adopted binding food waste reduction targets, aiming to cut food loss by 10 percent in processing and manufacturing and to reduce retail, service, and household waste by 30 percent per capita by 2030.This project contributes directly to those ambitions by equipping young people with the knowledge, creativity, and responsibility to take part in the solution. The exchange is designed not only to build awareness during the mobility but also to leave a lasting footprint.Participants will return home with the capacity to spark local initiatives, engage their peers, and influence daily practices in schools, youth centers, and families.Through follow-up workshops, peer-to-peer learning, and digital dissemination, the outcomes will continue to grow long after the project ends. In this way, the project’s legacy is carried forward by the participants themselves.They will act as ambassadors of conscious consumption, turning individual choices into collective change and passing on sustainable habits to future generations. What begins as a week of intercultural learning in Vienna becomes a wider contribution to European goals on sustainability, inclusion, and youth participation. By turning awareness into action, the project ensures that the voices of young people are not only heard but also translated into concrete progress toward a greener and