ZERO Food Waste Challenge 2022

Last year, HAS green academy held the first Brabant edition of the ZERO Food Waste Challenge. It involved a relatively small group of students from 4 universities of applied sciences.  “We learned a lot from this Brabant edition,” says Antien Zuidberg, professor in Design Methods in Food at HAS. “We’re using our previous experiences for the national edition.”

In this Brabant challenge, the professor set up a food waste action plan, together with colleagues, students and partners, for HAS green academy. “We hope this action plan will reduce food waste at HAS in Den Bosch by 50% in 3 years. The first step towards this goal is to look specifically at our own food waste and take appropriate action. , We’re also actively incorporating food waste as a theme in education and research.”

The partners will launch the national challenge on 13 September with a physical kick-off meeting, during which students will be able to follow a series of online masterclasses, consisting of webinars and SMALL challenges.

Antien: “The masterclasses will be given in the evening and in English. This makes it easy for students to join in from all over the Netherlands. The meetings will look at, among other things, the current situation with regard to food waste, and workinfoog methods to achieve innovative and working solutions.”

In addition to the masterclasses with SMALL challenges, students can also work on a BIG challenge from a company, institution or university. “We’re formulating a number of generic assignments for our own university of applied sciences, but we’re also compiling specific BIG challenges from companies, institutions and other universities.

Some examples of last year's challenges: encouraging young people to use food sparingly (Voedingscentrum), finding a use for oyster mushroom stem waste (BeefyGreen), and measuring HAS' Food Waste Print.”

All participants will receive a certificate at the end of the challenge, and the group of students or student who devises the food waste project with the most impact will receive the ZERO Food waste challenge Award. This award will be presented on or around 12 March 2023 by the Food Waste Free United Foundation.