Roughly four billion tons of food is produced globally each year. Yet, for a variety of reasons, around 1.3 billion tons of that food is wasted. Waste occurs all along the food supply chain, but in industrialized countries, it is concentrated at the retail and consumer levels. To motivate consumers to start curbing their food waste this year’s Nordic Baltic Ad Campaign is calling on all creative minds to assist in creating mass awareness.
“The current global population of seven billion is expected to grow to nine billion by 2050. But the number of hungry people need not increase. By reducing food waste, we can save money and resources, minimize environmental impacts and, most importantly, move towards a world where everyone has enough to eat,” said the U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, in his message on World Environment Day.
There are simple ways to reduce food waste at home, but consumers need both knowledge and motivation. This year’s ad competition from the U.N. Information Centre in Brussels (UNRIC), in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers, calls for entries with the potential to create mass awareness of food waste as part of the Think.Eat.Save initiative.
Entries for the competition are accepted until August 11th. The competition is open to professionals and amateurs alike, but only to citizens of the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, and northwestern Russia.
The winning entry will be awarded €5000 (US$6500) by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The ad will be featured in newspapers and exhibited around Europe – and hopefully make a difference in public perception of food waste.
