First port in Spain to join 4GOODFOOD project
As a result, Barcelona becomes the first port in Spain to develop this collaboration.
Since its inception in other Mediterranean ports of Savona, Civitavecchia, Marseille, Bari and Palermo this initiative has donated more than 70,000 food servings.
Aiming to half the surplus food generated on board
The 4GOODFOOD program, developed across the Costa fleet, through the review of processes and the involvement of crew and guests, aims to half the surplus food generated on board by 2020.
Costa prepares about 54m meals a year and decided to develop a project to reduce food waste in collaboration with Winnow, specialists in process optimization in professional kitchens. To carry it out successfully, the training of almost 2,400 kitchen employees on how to reduce waste and apply sustainable processes has been crucial.
The company has also developed an awareness campaign on board, Taste don't Waste, which directly involves guests and encourages responsible behavior, especially in the buffet area. After almost one year of its implementation on board the Costa ships the results are in line with the expectations.
Costa selects those dishes which are ready to be consumed and have been prepared in the kitchens the night before the ships arrived in Barcelona. The food is placed in aluminum containers which are sealed and labeled for traceability and are kept in cold refrigerated rooms until delivery.
Volunteers distribute to different associations
The next morning, in the port of Barcelona, the containers are handed over to the Banc dels Aliments volunteers who distribute them to different associations, Fundació Acollida i Esperança and the Hogar Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, which, in turn, offer the collected food to people in need.
Stefania Lallai, Costa Cruises’ director of sustainability and external relations explained: ‘We intend to halve the surplus food generated aboard our ships by 2020, ten years before the United Nations’ established date. We are very grateful to the Banc dels Aliments de Barcelona for making it possible in Barcelona.’
Additionally, Roser Brutau, president of Banc dels Aliments de Barcelona, explained: ‘We are very grateful to Costa Cruises for having made this project a reality. This initiative marks a new impulse in the work that we have been carrying out for more than 30 years that allows us to distribute food surpluses among multiple entities in the Barcelona region.’
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