🚀 From Waste 2 Green Taste: Training Course in Romania

What We Throw Away and What We Don't See – Food and Digital Waste as Sustainability Challenges

Participants from more than 10 countries, with different cultures, religions, and worldviews, yet regardless of our nationalities, cultural differences, and lifestyles, we all face the same issues, which often go unnoticed in our daily lives: the generation of food and digital waste and the need to reduce it. The Erasmus+ training course From Waste 2 Green Taste, held from October 10 to 14 in Oradea, Romania, brought us together around one common goal: better to understand these issues, exchange experiences and ideas, and explore how we can contribute to shaping a more sustainable future through our everyday habits and choices.

The training consisted of two main parts: the first two days were dedicated to the issue of food waste, while the following two days focused on digital waste. To better understand the scale of food waste, we also explored global statistics. According to the report published in 2024 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), approximately 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted worldwide in 2022, accounting for around 19 per cent of the food available to consumers. In addition, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), around 13 per cent of food is lost along the supply chain, after harvesting and before reaching the retail stage.

These figures show that food waste is not merely an issue of individual consumption; it involves the entire food chain, including production, storage, transportation, sales, and consumption. After familiarising ourselves with global statistics, during group work we identified six topics, each addressing different aspects, causes, and consequences of food waste. The topics discussed included food waste in supermarkets, seafood waste, the impact of fishing on ocean biodiversity and fish stocks, environmental issues related to livestock farming and food production, the overall volume and scale of food waste, as well as possible ways to prevent and reduce it.

The following two days focused on digital waste—an issue less visible than food waste, which accumulates quietly on computers, phones, and cloud storage as unused files, duplicate photos, emails, and unnecessary data. Beyond occupying storage, storing and processing data requires servers, electricity, and other resources, making it an environmental issue.

Group activities explored digital waste's causes, environmental consequences, and the hidden footprint of artificial intelligence (AI). While AI answers questions, creates images, and processes text in seconds, it relies on data centres that require significant computing power, electricity, and cooling. Operating these centres uses water for cooling, while electricity generation and equipment manufacturing consume additional resources. Thus, digital habits—from hoarding files to using AI—carry environmental consequences.

Practical final tasks summarised both topics and identified ways to apply this knowledge back home. For the food waste topic, representatives suggested recipes utilising food scraps or reducing waste; the Armenian team presented khash, krtchik, and sweet sujukh, which were included in a collective recipe book to be published by the organisers.

The From Waste 2 Green Taste training in Romania was a valuable experience that deepened our knowledge of food and digital waste, offered practical solutions, and encouraged more mindful everyday choices. It was also an opportunity to meet people from different countries, share cultures, and realise that cooperation, knowledge exchange, and individual responsibility are essential for a sustainable future.