• The research centre team presented the SPRINT – Zero Food Waste project at a conference in which several actors from the Catalan food chain participated, such as DARPA, FCAC or Mercabarna, among others.
• SPRINT is part of the European Commission’s ‘Single Market Programme’ and aims to diagnose food waste and propose solutions through technological interventions that alter behavioural patterns.

January 31, 2025

The Centre de Recerca en Economia i Desenvolupament Agroalimentari (CREDA) participates in the SPRINT – Zero Food Waste project, an initiative that aims to mitigate food waste in hotel restaurants, homes and supermarkets, through the implementation of innovative and effective technological interventions that are capable of altering behavioural patterns.

After holding a presentation day in Oviedo, the CREDA team has organized a session to introduce the project to the different actors in the Catalan food chain. Thus, the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) hosted more than 30 people related to the sector this Friday.

Solutions with conscience

The day, divided into three parts, was led by Chema Gil, director of CREDA, who assured that “the SPRINT project emerged as a possible solution to the problem registered by the United Nations Environment Programme regarding food losses and waste”. Once the project was introduced, the different partners introduced themselves and made known their role within the initiative.

CIS ROBOTICS and ABAMOBILE, the technological entities participating, have explained how prototypes designed specifically to measure and combat waste work, such as an “APP that aims to control food in homes, managing purchases and optimizing the use of products close to expiration.”

On the other hand, MASYMAS supermarkets have shared examples of waste reduction strategies that they already use, “such as labelling and price reductions on products close to perishable, or the incorporation of the ‘Too Good To Go’ initiative, which allows consumers to purchase edible foods that would be rejected in supermarkets.”

Catalonia as a reference

The second part of the day was given by Carles Guirado, a food loss and waste prevention technician at DARPA, who explained the regulations regarding food waste in Catalonia. “The Catalan law is pioneering because it integrates the entire agri-food chain and not only focuses on managing food surplus, but also works to prevent it,” he remarked.

Thus, Guirado highlighted that the proposal includes measures that focus more on “preventing food waste” with actions such as encouraging gleaning or requiring restaurants and hotels to “provide packaging so that consumers can take home uneaten food.”

Although this law was unanimously approved in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of state regulations and the call for elections paralysed its progress, forcing certain aspects to be reformulated. Currently, the new law is awaiting approval in Congress next March.

The impact of the law on the different links in the chain

Once the legal situation in Catalonia was presented, Gil invited the rest of the participants to form a round table under the title ‘Impact of the Food Waste Law on the different sectors of the agri-food chain’.

Regarding the primary sector, Josep Lluís Escuer, head of supplies at the Federació de Cooperatives Agràries de Catalunya (FCAC), highlighted how they are in a situation “of moving forward and helping cooperatives to comply with the requirements established by law” not only with quantification, but also with “the creation of projects that minimize impacts.”

According to Daniel Brasé, secretary general of the Federació Intercomarcal d’Hostaleria, Restauració i Turisme (FIHRT), the problem with the law “was that it came into force just before the start of the pandemic”. “We found ourselves at a time when the catering industry was closed and had to adapt both to the new prevention regulations and to the changes caused by COVID-19”, remarked Brasé, who, like the primary sector, concludes that the law is a good initiative, but “it should be accompanied by financial aid from the administration”.

Institutions like Mercabarna work to help companies comply and reduce waste, “we try to raise awareness of the importance of food by providing tools and elements that help manage and distribute this surplus“, explained Milagros Paseta, head of the sustainability department at the Catalan wholesale market, giving as an example the Foodback initiative that has been operating for three years.

For his part, Roger Gaspa, general secretary of the Consell d’Empreses Distribuïdores d’Alimentació de Catalunya (CEDAC), has defended that the use of prevention measures “has made it possible that of the total product that reaches a supermarket or store, only 1% is not sold in the establishments themselves”. With the help of tools with computer intelligence, “better stock management has been achieved, reducing the surplus”, he clarified. On the other hand, Gaspa has assured that “supermarkets are already working to ensure that most of this 1% is allocated to social entities”.

The SPRINT proposal

The SPRINT – Zero Food Waste project is an initiative funded by the European Commission through the Single Market Programme (SMP) to help internal markets recover from the COVID-19 crisis. The project aims to achieve three main objectives: (1) to diagnose food waste and what drives it; (2) to co-create, design and implement evidence-based intervention strategies that are more effective and sustainable; and (3) to raise awareness and promote policy recommendations and operational guidelines on how to reduce and prevent food waste.

To carry this out, a systemic approach has been adopted that takes into account the individual factors that favour waste, but also the external factors that can affect individuals and individuals, such as the context, culture, infrastructure or architecture of choice. Thus, over a period of 12 months, the collaborating entities will carry out a study in three pilot cases (Hotel Artiem, Supermarket Más y más, and homes), both in Asturias and Catalonia.

The SPRINT project has received funding from the Single Market Programme (SMP) grant agreement number 101156435 from the European Commission.