It's called Sprecometro and was launched on the occasion of the National Day for the Prevention of Food Waste, alongside updated data on the amount of food thrown away in Italy.
How much food is wasted at home, and what is its economic and environmental impact? To get an idea, the Osservatorio Waste Watcher International, on the occasion of the tenth National Day for the Prevention of Food Waste on 5 February, launched the Sprecometro, an app born from the joint work of the Department of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies at the University of Bologna and Last Minute Market impresa sociale spin off accademico dell'Alma Mater per la Campagna spreco zero.
In just a few minutes, the Sprecometro measures food waste in grams for individuals and groups, assessing the economic loss in euros, the carbon footprint and the water footprint. Not only that: based on the results of the measurement, the app offers educational content such as videos, fact sheets and quizzes that help the user reduce food waste both quantitatively and qualitatively, while at the same time adopting healthy diets. And by regularly updating one's behaviour in the waste diary contained in the app, it is also possible to monitor progress by setting reduction targets in line with the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, above all the halving of food waste by 2030. For every reduction in individual waste over time and for every piece of content viewed, the Sprecometro awards points, and by setting up groups with relatives and friends it is possible to launch a virtuous challenge.
According to the report "Il caso Italia 2023" by the Waste Watcher International Observatory on Food and Sustainability, food waste in Italian homes has fallen compared to the previous year, also as a consequence of inflation: on average, 75 grams of food are thrown away per person per day (mainly fruit and bread), equating to 524.1 g per week, i.e. -12 per cent compared to the survey from a year ago.
"The waste of food in our homes alone is worth a total of 6.48 billion euros, in light of the Waste Watcher data from January 2023," announces Spreco Zero founder, agri-food economist Andrea Segrè. "The UN objective of halving food waste by 2030 is not far off: the challenge can be won. The recovery of food for solidarity purposes is becoming an established practice," Andrea Segrè further observes, "but prevention begins when we push the shopping trolley: the bet is played out above all in our homes and in a profound, personal cultural shift. For this reason, food policies, which coordinate the food supply chain in our cities, are becoming a central benchmark for good governance."
In the fight against food waste, supply chain waste must also be taken into account, with over 4 million tonnes of food lost at a total value of 9 billion euros. Supply chain food waste accounts for 26 per cent in agriculture, 28 per cent in industry and 8 per cent in distribution.