The City of Milan won the first edition of the international prize Earthshot Prize, with strong> neighborhood hubs project against food waste in the “Build a Waste Free World" category.
The Earthshot Prize, conceived and financed by the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was created to reward the most effective actions aimed at protecting the environment and provides for the award of 1 million of pounds (1.17 million euros) to each of the winners of the five categories and the support of the Royal Foundation for the coming years.
“Milan is the first major city to apply a policy against food waste at the city level that includes public bodies, food banks, charities, NGOs, universities and private companies. And it's working - as it is reported in Corriere della Sera on the reason behind the award -. Today the city has three Food Waste Hubs, each of which recovers about 130 tons of food per year or 350 kg per day, equivalent to about 260,000 meals".
The project - which was chosen among other 750 candidate initiatives around the world - was created in 2017 from an alliance between the Municipality of Milan, Politecnico di Milano with the research group of the Department of Engineering Management Food Sustainability Lab which includes the Food Sustainability Observatory, Assolombarda, Fondazione Cariplo and the QuBì Program.
The creation of the first Hub involved the Lombardy Food Bank, allowing the distribution of meals to 3,800 people in a year, thanks to the contribution of 20 supermarkets, 4 company canteens and 24 third sector entities. Today in Milan there are 3 neighborhood hubs in Isola (2019), Lambrate (2020) and Gallaratese (2021) .
"Winning the Earthshot prize is the recognition of a great team effort that involved the whole city - comments Palazzo Marino -: thanks to the Municipality and to many realities of the third sector, universities, large-scale distribution and philanthropy operating in the area ".
The £ 1 million prize from the Royal Foundation will be invested in the opening of new hubs in the area , guaranteeing their long-term sustainability and replicability in the network of cities that work with Milan on the food policy .
Find out all about frontier research at Politecnico and on the topics defined by the European Commission as part of the Recovery Plan. Visit the Next Generation EU website of the Politecnico di Milano .
Credits home: www.foodpolicymilano.org/
Credits header: @earthshotprize su Twitter
