The 6th Sustainable Restoration Hackathon Day took place in Mercabarna, a day to reflect and generate new solutions to prevent food waste. This year, focused on the restaurant sector, it had the participation of six hospitality schools in Catalonia: the Pallars Hospitality School, the Figueres Hospitality School, the El Repartidor School, the Osona Hospitality School, Vallès Occidental Hospitality School and Sitges Hospitality School.
The activity began in March in each school, where they worked with work dynamics and reflection to develop solutions to prevent food waste in the different areas of the school. Among others: the dining room, the restaurant open to the public, the classroom or the pastry workshop, the school's internal cafeteria, the catering service and the shop, which some of the schools want to enhance in order to sell and make known all the foods they make.
In the sessions, the students proposed different ideas for improvement, both of the food preparation processes and proposals for raising awareness for students and teachers as well as action proposals for the prevention of food waste at school. From the different ideas, each educational center selected a winning one to present it in a final day in front of experts in the sector.
La jornada final ha servit per posar de manifest la lluita contra el malbaratament alimentari a les escoles d’hostaleria de Catalunya. De totes les solucions proposades, l’acció guanyadora és la proposta de l’Escola d’Hostaleria del Pallars amb la sensibilització i el reconeixement de la terra, una proposta d’acció completa que inclou tots els aspectes de la prevenció del malbaratament alimentari, posant èmfasi en la promoció del valor dels aliments i la sensibilització de la ciutadania vers el malbaratament alimentari.
In addition, the final day had the participation of different experts from the catering sector who helped the students to reflect and improve the solutions so that each educational center can implement them in the future. The Lleida Hospitality Federation, the Lluerna Group, the St. Paul's School, the CETT UB, the INS Aliments and the Green Leka Restaurant.
A day to demonstrate the great potential of the students of the hospitality schools in Catalonia and their ability to generate innovative solutions. Many of the solutions presented will be the first actions to prevent food waste in hospitality schools and thus encourage student action in educational centers. All while making hospitality schools a benchmark in the prevention of food loss and waste and highlighting the importance of the work of future professionals to enhance the value of local and seasonal food.
The food waste plan should not include the weight of the packaging. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the packaging from all packaged products before quantifying them or calculating their weight and subtracting it from the total weight, either directly or approximately.