Belgrade, 16 April – Ahead of the coming Easter holidays, during which people traditionally prepare larger quantities of food, as well as due to the circumstances caused by the Covide-19 pandemic when we are cooking at home more than usual, the Sweden and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, are initiating the “No Waste Kitchen” Giveaway, to promote the reduction of food waste in households.

The Giveaway is open to all users of social networks Facebook and Instagram, who post a video or a photograph of a meal made of excess food/food surplus, meal prepared with no waste generated, or showing how they and their household members reduce food waste in their home, using the hashtag #NoWasteKitchen. 

The “No Waste Kitchen” Giveaway will last from 16 April to 8 May 2020, and each week three most creative social media posts will be awarded. The winners will be selected by the jury consisting of the representative of the Swedish Embassy to Serbia, a representative of the UNDP, and Jelena Malenović, the author of the blog Spice and Sunshine. Detailed rules and regulations are available here.

One-third of the food produced globally is wasted, while the number of hungry people worldwide exceeds 800 million. Food that ends up in landfills decomposes and emits greenhouse gasses, methane and carbon dioxide, having a negative impact on climate change.

By reducing food waste, we are helping protect the environment and save money. The easiest way to do this is by smarter planning of food purchases, freezing of edible meal remains for later use, and cooking by using products that we already have in the household.

“No Waste Kitchen” is part of the project “Bio-Waste Management Challenge” through which Sweden, in cooperation with UNDP Serbia, is supporting the Ministry of Environmental Protection to come up with innovative solutions to improve waste management, in compliance with EU standards.