Foodcloud targets 50,000 signatures in pledge to reduce Ireland’s food waste

Press release from the Foodcloud

Bid to Reduce Food Waste

Pictured at the launch of the Foodcloud Fest are founders Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O'Brien
 with food expert Sophie Morris

Foodcloud, Ireland’s not-for-profit organisation that matches surplus food with those that need it most, today announced that it is targeting 50,000 signatures in a national pledge to reduce Ireland’s food waste. The organisation estimates that if 50,000 people in Ireland reduce food waste by just 1 kilogram per week, just over €1m will be saved, the equivalent of over 5.7 million meals. 

The Foodcloud pledge can be signed at the event or following the event at www.foodcloud.ie where individuals and businesses also find out more about reducing their food waste.  

Announcing the pledge, Iseult Ward, co-Founder of Foodcloud said, “At least one million tonnes of food in Ireland and almost 1.3 billion tonnes worldwide are wasted per year. To put that in context, one in every four calories produced from food in the world, is wasted. We want Irish people to think about how they can reduce this waste - with such a rich food and agricultural heritage, it makes sense that as a nation, we commit to this.”

To raise awareness of the pledge, Foodcloud will host The Foodcloud Feast on 2^nd April next, at Smock Alley Theatre in Temple Bar, Dublin. A lavish three course banquet of fresh, quality Irish ingredients that are ignored or forgotten by supermarkets, restaurants and the modern food system will be prepared by Sophie Morris, Chef and author of Sophie Kooks. 

RTE broadcaster and food waste campaigner, Philip Boucher Hayes will MC the Feast, and chair a discussion entitled Food Waste – the Challenge and the Opportunity. Participants in the discussion include: Oisín Quinn, The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emer Costello, Labour Party’s MEP, Eoin MacCuirc, Bia FoodBank, Odile LeBolloch, EPA, Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien, FoodCloud and Conor O’Malley, Meade Potato Company.

Aoibheann O’Brien, co-Founder Foodcloud said, ‘The Foodcloud Feast will bring together policy-makers, chefs, retailers and foodies, to discuss how we can tackle the food waste challenge, but also identify the opportunities this provides for the food sector. The aim of the evening is to inspire guests by a vision for an Ireland where no good food goes to waste when there are people who are going hungry”

Tickets for The Foodcloud Feast are available through www.tickets.ie at €37 per person which includes a 3 course meal with wine or beer and lively debate, in the atmospheric surroundings of Smock Alley Theatre.

Foodcloud:

Established in Trinity College Dublin, in 2013, Foodcloud is a community-based social enterprise that brings food businesses and charities together with an easy-to –use and reliable technology platform, matching those with too much food with those who have too little. To date Foodcloud has redistributed over 5 tonnes of food, the equivalent of 13,000 meals to its network of 35 charities in Dublin City Centre, and Drogheda. FoodCloud holds a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Minnovation Award, has graduated from TCD’s Launchbox, NDRC’s start-up accelerator programme, Launchpad and are recent winners of the Arthur Guinness Projects. Supporters include the Environmental Protection Agency, Diageo, Starbucks and Tesco Ireland. To find out more see www.foodcloud.ie