HAS starts first Brabant Hbo Food Waste Challenge

On 14 September, HAS University of Applied Sciences launched the first Food Waste Challenge in Brabant in collaboration with the Joint Food Waste Foundation and Rabobank. Its goal? To make as many students and businesses in Brabant as possible aware of how much food is being needlessly wasted. This will make a positive contribution to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3: 50% less food wasted by 2030.

Antien Zuidberg, lecturer Design Methods in Food at HAS University of Applied Sciences, has set up a food waste action plan together with colleagues, students and partners for HAS University of Applied Sciences. "With this action plan we want to significantly reduce food waste within HAS University of Applied Sciences. We are doing this in the first place by looking at how much food is wasted in our organisation and by taking action. We are also actively addressing the issue of food waste in our education and research. And of course, this Food Waste Challenge and the accompanying award ceremony for the higher education sector will also contribute to this." 

Matchmaking

An important part of the first Brabant University of Applied Sciences Food Waste Challenge is matchmaking: connecting companies and institutions with students who want to work on solutions to these challenges. In the past three months, challenges were picked up from 13 companies and institutions and matched with 32 students from 4 universities of applied sciences (HAS University of Applied Sciences, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Fontys University of Applied Sciences and BUAS.) Some examples of the challenges: stimulating food economy among young people (Voedingscentrum), applying saved food fibres in food applications (PeelPioneers) and applying oyster mushroom feet that are currently not used (BeefyGreen).  

Food waste award

Mid-March, the Foundation Together Against Food Waste will award a food waste award - or rather a food economy award - to the group of students or student with the most impactful food waste project. 

Masterclasses

The HAS also offers 5 master classes which both students and staff from universities and companies can participate in. These master classes focus, among other things, on the latest developments in combating food wastage and on methods and approaches to arrive at innovative solutions that also work.

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