In Cantabria, the regional government has set itself the goal of fighting against this waste. The measure was born within the Cantabria 2016-2017 Social Emergency Plan. The Plan Against Food Waste has eight proposals for specific measures and the idea is to apply it on a pilot basis in a municipality of Cantabria throughout this year. Consumers, hotels, producers, manufacturers, distributors and even companies and government agencies that work with food, such as Cantur or MARE, have been involved in the process. It is about working with the donation of surpluses, collaborative initiatives, the social responsibility of companies, the ‘ugly food’ – those apples or tomatoes discarded just because they are not pretty – the collaboration with food banks, the adaptation of packaging to real needs or ‘Happy Hour’, products still valid, with dates close to expiration in which the price is reduced.
The Research Group IDES-UC has participated in the drafting of this plan and in the preparation process. In a first stage, more than 171 measures – 110 of them international – were studied and a guide was prepared with all of them. After this, a participatory process was opened with economic, public and private agents, and opportunities and problems were identified. Elisa Baraibar and María Odriozola, members of the UC team, highlight the broad consensus that exists on the need to act against this waste. In this phase we worked with several ministries directly involved: Industry, environment, agriculture, tourism, commerce or public companies such as Mare and Cantur, in which pilot initiatives have already been developed on the shape and size of packaging or the design of the menus. Both also highlight the existence of many anonymous initiatives in this regard, but admit that «it is not an easy task and that this type of project requires a long term to work in awareness and involvement.»