tirsdag den 19. april 2016

Dagbladet Information - Kan vi forbrugere ikke tænke selv?

af Selina Juul, stifter af forbrugerbevægelsen Stop Spild Af Mad

bragt i Dagbladet Information den 20. april 2016 -
https://www.information.dk/indland/2016/04/kan-forbrugere-taenke


Forbrugere skal myndiggøres, ikke tales ned til af eksperter og organisationer.

»Vi tænker, før du handler,« lyder sloganet fra den ellers gode organisation Forbrugerrådet Tænk. En række velmenende tv-programmer og avisartikler fortæller os, hvordan vi stakkels forbrugere kan få styr på vores liv og vores forbrug.

’Læn Dem bare tilbage, parkér hjernen i garderoben – og så skal vi kloge hoveder nok fortælle, hvordan verden hænger sammen’. At hjælpe de dumme forbrugere er blevet en industri i sig selv. Tv-programmer, magasiner, organisationer, eksperter og smagsdommere står i kø for at fortælle de dumme forbrugere, hvordan de klarer sig gennem livet. Flere fonde og adskillige puljeordninger støtter mangeårige symptombehandlingsprojekter, der handler om at hjælpe de dumme forbrugere. Og medierne fastholder de dumme forbrugere i den hjælpeløse rolle, eftersom diverse tv-programmer om forbrug og privatøkonomi fremviser familier og par, som overhovedet ikke har styr på deres liv.

Tilbage står indtrykket af de dumme forbrugere, som ikke kan finde ud af noget som helst selv … eller kan de? Har vi virkelig brug for, at nogen tænker for os og fortæller os, hvordan verden hænger sammen?

Har vi fejlet?
I den nye digitale tidsalder kan man som privatperson, som borger og som menigt medlem af civilsamfundet finde svar på næsten alle spørgsmål – løsningen er ofte blot et par klik væk. Men kvaliteten af de svar, man får, afhænger af kvaliteten af de spørgsmål, man stiller.

Med andre ord skal man være god til at manøvrere i den digitale skov af informationer. Og der er naturligvis brug for både organisationer og eksperter til at kvalificere diverse løsninger, så forbrugeren bliver guidet til den bedst mulige og den mest brugbare løsning.

Men organisationer og eksperter, mig selv inkluderet, skal huske på, at forbrugerne i dag har adgang til en fantastisk stor viden, og de har ikke brug for, at nogen ’tænker for dem’ – de har brug for at finde svarene selv. Så længe svarene er de bedste og de mest kvalificerede.

Det andelsejede energiselskab SEAS-NVE’s nye Gallup-undersøgelse viser, at mange danskere ikke ved, hvad den grønne omstilling handler om. Selv på trods af det mangeårige fokus som mange kampagner, organisationer og medier, ikke mindst nærværende avis, har haft på præcis grøn omstilling.

Har vi fejlet? Eller er forbrugerne virkelig dumme, hjælpeløse og ignorante? Betyder det, at vi virkelig skal tænke for de dumme forbrugere, fordi de ikke kan tænke selv?

Nej, forbrugerne kan skam godt tænke selv, og selvsagt kan de selv finde løsninger. Løsningerne skal blot være kvalificerede, implementerbare og nemme at finde.

Empowerment
I coachingverdenen opererer man med begrebet ’empowerment’ – at give magt til individet og lade individet indse, at han/hun selv har magt til at forandre tingene. Princippet handler om, at folk ikke har brug for, at nogen pådutter dem præfabrikerede holdninger til, hvordan livet hænger sammen – folk kan og vil selv.

Og netop denne empowerment skal diverse organisationer, eksperter og lignende gøre brug af. Det handler om at inspirere forbrugeren til en positiv adfærdsændring i hverdagen og give vedkommende nemme værktøjer og redskaber til selv at kunne forandre sit liv.

Til at begejstre forbrugeren og skabe en så smittende begejstring, så han/hun selv gerne vil skabe en positiv omstilling i sit eget liv.

Man skal vise vejen og døren – men forbrugeren skal selv ville gå igennem den dør.

Og så skal man ikke tale ned til forbrugeren og ej heller fastholde forbrugeren i en ’du er en dum og hjælpeløs og ignorant forbruger’-rolle. Mennesker kan tænke selv. Borgere vil handle selv. Forbrugere har blot brug for en kvalificeret guide til at foretage de bedste handlinger.

Den kloge forbrugers tidsalder er kommet – og vi forbrugere kan tænke selv.

The Huffington Post - Will Denmark Win The Global Race Against Food Waste?

by Selina Juul, Founder of Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark 

published on The Huffington Post on April 19th 2016 -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/selina-juul/will-denmark-become-a-wor_b_9703260.html


If Carlsberg is known as probably the best beer in the world, then Denmark can soon be known as probably the world leading country in the fight against food waste. With national reduction in food waste by 25% within the last five years, a national movement against food waste, a food waste restaurant, a food waste supermarket, the government’s Partnership against Food Waste, giant focus on food waste in the media and new food waste reduction initiatives and startups popping up almost every month, Denmark can be proud of its great achievements in the fight against food waste. Denmark is already a home to one of the world’s best restaurants, Noma - and perhaps it’s time to win the global race against food waste.

Perhaps the France and soon Italy are the first countries in the world to introduce national laws against food waste, but they are definitely not the first countries in the fight against food waste.

A global shame
Denmark is a relatively small country populated by 5,7 million people - yet Denmark’s national food waste reaches up to 700.000 tons of good edible food per year. Largest part of the country’s food waste is generated by the households - and most of the food the Danes are throwing away is fruits, vegetables, bread, dairy products and leftovers from meals. This is by the way a very typical picture for the Western households.

While in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa most of the food is lost during the farming, post-harvesting and processing stages, the tremendous amounts of food waste in the Western countries happen at the consumers’ homes. The new report from the Danish EPA in collaboration with the Danish government, to which I have been contributing, shows that most of the Danes’ food waste happens at homes, especially in the refrigerators, where people are forgetting to use up all the food. The food gets forgotten in the back of the fridge and gradually goes bad. Confusion about the date labeling and the lack of knowledge of using the leftovers are also quite common food waste traps.

The most recent numbers from the EU FUSIONS project, where I participate as one of the Partners, show that every year EU generates 88 million tons of food waste - estimated to roughly 143 billion Euros per year. If we look at the entire planet, the numbers from the UN FAO show that one-third of the world’s food is either lost or wasted, making the food waste a global shame on the face of human civilization, especially when almost a billion humans on this planet are either starving or undernourished.

Thus, there is no time to waste: all countries in the world must enter the race against food losses and waste.

A national movement
Since the foundation of the Stop Wasting movement (Stop Spild Af Mad) eight years ago, the fight against food waste has become a national movement.

Denmark is a country, which takes pride in producing food. The respect for the produced food is growing among the Danes, who gradually start cooking to feed themselves and not their garbage bins.

Today, because of the fight against food waste trend and the consumer pressure, almost every retain chain in Denmark has a food waste prevention strategy. The REMA 1000 retail chain, with the inspiration from the Stop Wasting movement, replaced all their quantity discounts with single item discounts to minimize food waste. This method is now being replicated by the competing retail chains such as Coop, LIDL and many others.

As the single population of Denmark is growing, more single friendly products are being launched on the market: meat and bread in smaller packages as well as butter and yoghurt. The CEO of the Danish Federation of Shopkeepers DSK Mr. John Wagner told in an interview that the fight against food waste is becoming a strong competitive parameter among the Danish supermarkets.

From food waste to big business
A buffet in a restaurant is a huge food waste trap, because the food cannot be reused afterwards due to the food safety issues. The new Danish startup Too Good To Go has solved that problem. With help from this app, you can visit your local restaurant near its closing time, fill up a box of food from the buffet and thus get a very cheap good meal. The restaurant wastes less food, makes more money and you get a good bargain. A win-win scenario, which not only reduces food waste, but helps the restaurant to earn money on the food, which otherwise would have been wasted. A similar initiative, YourLocal, is focusing on the surplus food from the supermarkets.

Another example is the Danish food industry making big business on surplus food. The Irma supermarket chain has launched the Food Waste Chips made of surplus bread. The potato salad industry is starting to use the “ugly” potatoes in the potato salad production. And more and more Danish supermarkets have the “stop food waste areas”, where Danes can buy good food close to its expiration date at very cheap prices. Thus, people get good cheap food and at the same time help avoiding the food waste, while the supermarket gets extra income on the food, which otherwise could have been wasted.

Today, a large amount of Danish hospitals, canteens and restaurants has food waste reduction strategies, which save their businesses large amounts of money. According to Unilever Food Solutions, a medium sized canteen can minimize up to 20% of food waste per year. Many canteens use the money saved by the food waste reduction to buy organic food, boosting the organic agriculture.

The REFOOD label highlights the cafés, restaurants and canteens which joined the fight against food waste, making it attractive to the sustainability-oriented customers.

Many waste companies focus on the recycling and waste sorting campaigns, such as the AVV Nulskrald in Jutland - and actually deliver impressive results. The household waste can actually cut in half, if the households start sorting their waste and recycle.

Several educational food waste campaigns for schools are launched. Universities focus on food waste prevention assignments for students. Projects such as the WeFood food waste supermarket and Rub & Stub food waste restaurant, despite of not addressing the problem at its roots, as they both requite a daily flow of food waste to keep operating, are brilliant initiatives. The growing amount of charity NGOs such as LOFU and PROJECT HOMELESS deliver good surplus food to homeless and socially disadvantaged citizens - and hundreds of food bloggers create mouthwatering recipes to inspire their followers to join the fight against food waste.

And by these all above-mentioned initiatives, I am just scratching the surface.

Keeping the momentum
It is important to keep the momentum in the fight against food waste. According to Danish Agriculture & Food Council, Denmark’s national food waste has been reduced by 25% within the last five years. We have a long way to go, but it’s a good start.

But what will happen, when the fight against food waste doesn’t make the headlines in the media anymore? What will happen, when the food business stakeholders, leaders and politicians move onto a new and trendier agenda? What will happen, when the fight against food waste turns into greenwashing?

The food waste will still be present, despite of the lack of its focus.

It’s important to focus on the prevention.

Nationally and internationally, the food waste symptom treatment is making way more headlines than the prevention of the problem. Yet, the prevention is the most efficient and lasting way to dramatically decrease the mountains of food waste.

Focusing on the prevention and putting the food into good use before the food becomes wasted is the key to solving the global food waste scandal.