Circular Food Economy: Reducing Waste and Carbon Footprint

Project name: Circular Food Economy: Reducing Waste and Carbon Footprint

Project acronym: CIRCFOOD

Funding scheme: Erasmus+ Program – Youth

Partner countries: Portugal – Estonia – Croatia – Serbia – Germany

Project duration: September 2025 – June 2027

Project budget: 250.000 €

Learning Library is part of the consortium implementing the project.

The global food sector is at a crossroads, facing challenges related to food waste, food insecurity, and the carbon footprint of food production and consumption. As climate change intensifies and resources become scarcer, the need for a circular economy in the food sector is more urgent than ever. Circular economy principles can significantly minimize waste, optimize resource use, and reduce environmental impact, making food systems more sustainable and resilient. The way we produce and consume food is not sustainable. Nearly one-third of the world’s food is wasted or lost every year, yet a growing number of people are starving. This number was about 690 million in 2019 and raised even more in post-Covid times. By 2050, both the income of developing countries and the global population, which is nearly 9.8 billion, are expected to increase, pushing the demand for food even higher as we will need 70% more food than what is consumed today. The habit of wasting food not only contributes to more than 1.3 billion tons of waste annually, but the rotted food creates 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases.

The traditional understanding of production and consumption is based on a linear, one-directional “take-make-dispose” principle, in which manufacturing by-products, surplus resources, and products without further use are usually seen as an unavoidable side effect if considered at all, and disposed of. This view demonstrates two axioms of the linear economy: first, a linear economy requires a constant input of new resources, which, in turn, implies an unlimited availability of natural resources; and second, a linear economy is characterized by inefficient use of these resources, reflecting a belief in an ecosystem’s infinite capacity to absorb pollution and waste. The CE has recently emerged as a promising alternative to the linear economy. It can be described as “an economic system that is based on business models which replace the ‘end-of- life’ concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes. The circular concept inherent is a new perspective on wastage, which involves viewing it as a resource that can create value in other production and consumption processes. By dissolving the end-of-life concept of unreflective disposal of resources, waste – a term that often has negative connotations, becomes a valuable resource.

The project objectives are the following:

1. Capacity building: enhance the capacities of project partners in developing, implementing, and evaluating youth work activities on sustainability and circular economy in the food sector.
2. Research and analysis: conduct comprehensive study on food waste, food insecurity, and carbon footprints in participating countries, producing valuable report and guidelines for youth work organisations on how to contribute to solving this global problem by implementing local initiatives.
3. Educational resources for youth workers: develop handbook, toolkit, and online resources to empower youth workers and educators in sustainable practices and food waste minimisation as one of the components of circular and sustainable economy.
4. Interactive learning: create an interactive online learning courses and educational platform focused on circular economy principles and reducing food waste.
5. Dissemination and sustainability: ensure long-term use and dissemination of project outputs through online platforms, campaigns, and a final conference.