Tackling food waste is not rocket science | Anna Vainikainen | TEDxJohannesburgSalon
Anna sits at the centre of the story of how Finland is tackling the problem of food waste, and why that story seems to be heading for a happy ending. But how does the story begin? The characteristics of Finnish society play a crucial role here. Finland is cold, vast in size, and has a relatively small population of about 5.5 million. Survival imperatives mean that in general, Finnish society has had to develop a solutions-based, practical attitude to life, with a strong tradition of working together, even when the various actors don’t always agree. Given this understanding, the most important thing that Anna and her team have had to do has been to ensure that the motley crew of actors in the Finnish food system—the food and drink industry; the packaging value chain; retailers; the ministries in charge of environment, agriculture, forestry, economic, and labour affairs—are all at one table, reading from the same script. The model selects for voluntary action aimed at the profitability and sustainability of food chain companies, while spreading knowledge and understanding of food waste. The learnings are clear for all to see: food waste is a multi-faceted problem, and the solutions need to reflect that.
Chief policy adviser on sustainability and environment for the federation of Finnish food and drink industries This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx