Author: Felicitas Schmittinger & Nayla Saniour
Redesigned by: Carla Alvarez Gonzalez
Can we turn food waste into a sustainable future for everyone?
Real Junk Food Berlin is part of the international organization The Junk Food Project that aims to raise awareness around the topic of food waste and new sustainable food systems. Their activities include the use of food that would otherwise go to waste and the conduction of workshops and courses sharing ways to avoid food waste.
The Junk Food Project began in the UK in 2013 and quickly grew into an international movement. Real Junk Food Berlin became part of this network in 2015, addressing the cityās food waste problem and promoting circular economy principles. Berlinās vibrant community of activists and volunteers provided fertile ground for this initiative to thrive. However, the project also had to navigate restrictive food regulations and societal stigmas around consuming surplus food, pushing for policy reforms and cultural shifts.
The main public policy of reference are the regulations that require the disposal of food in restaurants or supermarkets that are close to or beyond their best-before date. It also addresses the lack of policies to punish excessive food waste and the regulation of how leftover goods can be used.
Fighting food waste and promoting sustainable lifestyles, the Real Junk Food aims to communicate the consequences of climate change and how individuals can contribute to their goal with their lifestyle. The ultimate goal is a change in behaviour and new policies to avoid food waste.
An innovative approach
Co-creating new value from goods that would otherwise go to waste while creating benefits for those who need it. It is also worth mentioning the inclusive approach adopted with the pay-as-you-feel model giving (almost) all people the opportunity to join without high monetary boundaries or the need of certain skills or financial availabilities.
Key enablers
- A general legal base or context that allows the collection and further processing of food is fundamental to allow the initiative to operate.
- A culture of sharing and existing similar social initiatives foster the set up and embedding of such projects based on volunteer work.
- Political: Fighting food waste as part of political agendas
- Economic: All work is on volunteer base, low starting cost, few equipment needed
- Legal: Laws for the distribution of food enhancing the effective use and processing of foods
Key inhibiting factors
- Political: Issues justifying why restaurants/supermarkets cannot sell goods anymore and should donate them to an initiative that eventually cooks with them and sells the meals
- Economic: āLossā of revenue for the original owners of the raw products/material
- Social: Hesitation of people to buy and/or consume food that has been labelled as expired
- Legal: Laws against the sales/distribution of food beyond the best-before-date
Main positive lessons
- Strong commitment from volunteers
- Replicability of the initiative in other cities & countries
- No need for particular technical knowledge or abilities to participate
Main barriers found
- Difficulty in producing revenue
- Achieve long-term commitment from sellers/producers
- Overcome policy barriers for the sales of intercepted food
Potential for reapplication and scale-up
Real Junk Food Berlin demonstrates significant potential for replication in cities worldwide. Its low-cost, volunteer-driven model can be easily adapted to different contexts, requiring only basic infrastructure and community engagement. However, successful replication depends on addressing local regulatory and cultural challenges, as well as developing sustainable funding mechanisms. With the right support, the initiativeās framework can inspire widespread change, turning food waste into a resource for climate action and social equity.
The initiative is replicable in other contexts, originating from the UK, the project was replicated in a number of cities across Europe. Scaling appears slightly more difficult being based on individual contribution of volunteers and small communities shaping around the idea of transforming food waste into meals.
All images on this site are sourced fromĀ realjunkfoodberlin.wordpress.com. Video content is sourced from Real Junk Food Project Berlin YouTube channel.