PIAZZA del CANNONE
26/29 may
Parco Sempione, Milan
Landing on Earth
from a mysterious planet.
Its mission
is to make us reflect.
A space capsule.
An immersive and breathtaking experience.
A message from a mysterious planet: a more sustainable, less wasteful and more food-conscious way of life.
Orsero invites you to discover that another world is possible, if we are willing to react.
Far too much food is wasted, with impacts on the economy, society and the environment.
At Orsero Group we are committed to reducing waste along our entire supply chain, but only together we can truly make a difference.
To help find a solution, the first step is to reflect on the problem and understand together how to take action.
How much food we waste
The percentage of food wasted in the world, totalling 931 million tonnes per year. That’s 133 times the Pyramid of Giza which took the Egyptians, known for their efficiency, 23 years to build...
The food waste that comes from households. It means we can all do something to improve the situation.
The weight of the food thrown away each year by the average Italian. If you love pasta and eat a generous serving of 120 g, those 67 kg are the equivalent of one and a half meals per day going straight in the bin.
The cost of food waste
The cost of the food thrown away each year by the average Italian family. With that money, the same family could buy almost two weeks of groceries.
The cost of the food thrown away in Italy each year. Looking at it another way, that’s 0.6% of Italian GDP. And even if Italy’s growth forecasts don’t excite you, it’s still clearly a lot of money.
The environmental impact of the food we throw away
The amount of CO2 produced unnecessarily, for food that will never be eaten. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world, behind USA and China.
The agricultural area used to produce food that is lost or wasted. For anyone unfamiliar with hectares, that’s an area about 46 times the size of Italy, including rivers, lakes and mountains.
The water footprint of food waste, or the amount of water used every year to produce food that will never be eaten. That’s enough to fill Lake Garda five times.
What we throw away
If you’re a fan of rankings, these are the five most wasted foods in Italy.
- 1fresh fruit (27%)
- 2onions, garlic and root vegetables (17%)
- 3fresh bread (16%)
- 4salad (16%)
- 5other vegetables (15%)
Sources:
- United Nations Environment Programme (2021). Food Waste Index Report 2021. Nairobi Simplified: UNEP (2021)
- Waste Watcher & Spreco Zero – Food waste of Italian households 2020
- Waste Watcher & Spreco Zero – 2021 Cross Country Report, The Italian case 2022
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Food Wastage Footprint – Impacts on Natural Resources – Summary report (2013).
- ISTAT, Household consumption expenditure, year 2020
How we canwaste less food
WHERE’S THAT LIST?
Do the carrots and courgettes in your fridge look like they came out of a natural history museum? A good rule of thumb before going shopping is to check what’s in the fridge and cupboards and write a list of what you need. This will help stop you from buying unnecessary items.
IS ANYONE IN THERE?
Did you find a tuna can in the cupboard which expired in the ’90s? Checking what’s in your fridge and cupboards regularly will help you waste less. Then, with a bit of creativity and some online searches, you can find what you need for full meals with the ingredients hidden away in the kitchen.
THE FREEZER ISN’T JUST FOR MAKING ICICLES
The recipe was perfect, but you realised too late that you doubled the doses. Luckily you can always freeze the leftovers, splitting them up into grab-and-go individual portions. Next time your lunch will be ready-made!
INSTRUCTIONS TO STOP FOOD FROM GOING BAD
Follow the storage instructions on boxes, jars and cans, and take particular care with fresh food:
- Bread should be stored in a dark, dry place, preferably inside its packaging or an airtight bag
- Eggs should be stored in an airtight container on a fridge shelf, not in the door
- Potatoes should be stored in a dark, dry place
AN ORGANISED FRIDGE KEEPS FOOD FRESH
Some people like to organise their socks by colour, while others might think that’s going too far. An organised fridge, on the other hand, will help keep your food fresh and make it last longer.
Lower shelves: meat and fish
Upper shelves: leftovers, yoghurt and drinks
Low-humidity draws: carrots and greens
High-humidity draws: fruit, herbs and mushrooms
Door: dressings and sauces
DID YOU KNOW?
- You can make a rose-coloured clothes dye from avocado seeds: boil the avocado seeds in a pot of water for two hours. Place the fabrics into the water and let them soak for four hours. For best results, use clothes with natural fibres and dry the fabrics away from the sun.
- If you have overripe bananas, you can use them to make a face, body and hand scrub out of them. Just mix the pulp of the overripe banana with a quarter of its peel cut into small pieces and some brown sugar. You can then apply it to the skin in a circular motion.
- The passionfruit vine not only produces the delicious fruit but also beautiful flowers. To grow them, dry the seeds of the fruit, sow them in a small container and transplant into a larger pot when the plant has grown.
Numbers make us think, but can we reflect on our habits as well? Find out where you stand on food waste with this test, and receive a free box of salvaged fruit, offered by Orsero and Too Good To Go.
When do you go shopping?
How do you choose what to buy?
How do you store your food?
What do you do with fresh food that you haven’t eaten?
What is your kitchen like?
Last step! Click the button to view your result and receive your gift
Partners
Banco Alimentare is a non-profit organisation that collects and redistributes surpluses from agricultural production, the food industry and large-scale distribution. Banco Alimentare is at the centre of a solidarity network and supplies the collected products to charitable organisations, which in turn distribute them to people in need.
“Donate with Gusto” is Banco Alimentare’s awareness and fundraising campaign to support its daily activities salvaging and redistributing food. Banco Alimentare wants to continue helping those affected by the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and the recent events in Europe, collaborating with charitable organisations operating at grassroots level.
With your donation, you can help Banco Alimentare salvage food and give it to those who need it most.
Pane Quotidiano ONLUS is a nonreligious, apolitical and non-profit organisation, founded in Milan in 1898.
Its mission is to provide essential food supplies to those in need, every day, free of charge.
RECUP is a city market project aimed at tackling food waste and social exclusion. The association salvages food before it is thrown away, selecting only edible items which are then redistributed to those in need.
The beneficiaries are the same people performing the activities: this creates a sense of collaboration and community among the volunteers, providing an opportunity for intercultural and intergenerational exchange.