Food collection begins at Roma 2022
Four days before the start of the European Championships, the campaign for the surplus food collection at the Roma 2022 Village started today, on 7 August.
The project, which is part of Roma 2022's commitments for environmental sustainability with the co-operation of the company Circularity and the Banco Alimentare Association, is about collecting surplus food from the Championship staff and volunteer canteens. Every day, until the end of the European Masters Aquatics Championships on 4 September, Banco Alimentare volunteers will collect surplus food after lunch and dinner, which will be used for home assistance to people in need.
It’s an important project that has been strongly supported by Roma 2022. It is estimated that every year in Italy 500 grams of food are wasted per capita per week, 31 kg in a year (source: Waste Watcher for the year 2021) for a total of 1,866,00 tonnes on a national scale and € 7,37 billion lost. To these numbers must be added food waste from the supply chain and waste due to events, i.e. cultural and sporting events, but also social events such as weddings, baptisms and communions, activities that increase waste per capita causing a further waste of raw materials and economic resources. For this reason, Roma 2022 has decided to rely on the Banco Alimentare.
Based in Rome, this voluntary organisation operates throughout the Lazio region and was the first organisation in the capital to focus on the collection of food surpluses, starting with foodstuffs no longer marketable in the factory (close to expiry date, damaged packaging, stock surpluses, etc.). Over the years, founded in 1990, it has grown thanks to the work of volunteers and to organisations such as Roma 2022 that believe in these initiatives and rely on their experience.
The European Aquatics Championships in Rome won’t be only about collecting food surpluses: with an agreement with Circularity, a Milan-based company focused on recycling and giving a second life to materials through the circular economy, eco-compactors will be installed in the Village for recovering plastic from bottles and containers, a latest-generation device for recycling cigarette butts, located in the dinner jacket areas of the village, and in addition, reforestation and compensation projects will be launched.
