The “Talk series – Porto Towards Carbon Neutrality 2030” is an initiative organized by the Municipality of Porto, which includes 10 sessions of clarification and debate related to the themes of sustainability, decarbonization and climate transition in the context of cities’ carbon neutrality. The fourth session took place last Thursday, June 1st, at the Porto Innovation Hub, and focused on the “Circularity of the Food System”.
Luísa Magalhães, Executive Director of the Association Smart Waste Portugal, was the moderator of the event, which was attended by Duarte Torres, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto (FCNAUP); Pedro Rocha, Grower’s Network Weaver from Noocity; Pedro Lago, Director of Sustainability and Circular Economy of Sonae MC; and Luís Assunção, Administrator of Porto Ambiente.
Each of the speakers was allowed an intervention, followed by a space for debate and clarification with the audience.
At the opening of the session, Luísa Magalhães began by framing Smart Waste Portugal, an association created in 2015 with the aim of creating a network of entities that promote waste as a resource through research and development: “One of the areas we work on is food waste, for which we have a working group since 2018. The idea is to try to work on the topic and gather information, map the sector, and find circular solutions”.
“About 1/3 of the food produced annually worldwide is wasted, which corresponds to 1.3 billion tons of wasted food. In Europe, 30% of purchased food is not consumed. Moreover, the food sector also produces 1/3 of greenhouse gases globally. We have, therefore, a long way to go”, she said.
The sustainability of the food system
Duarte Torres, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto, brought to the discussion some of the most pertinent issues related to the sustainability of the food system. Overpopulation was the first factor pointed out by the official: “One of the issues that puts enormous pressure on agri-food systems is the increase in population. We have a forecast of 9 billion humans in 2050 and this is a central aspect”.
Besides the high number of people on the planet, Duarte Torres also pointed out the increase in purchasing power as another factor affecting the agri-food system. “The increase in purchasing power leads to an increase in food consumption and, consequently, to an increase in the consumption of animal-based foods, which have a greater impact on the environmental system,” he explained.
According to the approach of planetary boundaries developed by a group of scientists led by Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Will Steffen from the Australian National University, safe boundaries are defined for human activity within 9 specific processes to avoid dangerous environmental changes. These boundaries cover aspects such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, use of freshwater, among others that must be kept within certain values to avoid potentially irreversible impacts on the earth system that endanger the life of the human species on the Planet. In this context, the deputy director of FCNAUP addressed a study conducted by a group of researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which addresses some of the planetary boundaries that may already have been crossed and others that may yet be, if nothing changes in consumption patterns.
“For some domains, such as the disruption of geochemical cycles and the loss of biodiversity, we have probably already crossed that boundary and it will not be possible to return to the system’s balance. Food production impacts any of these domains, namely the biogeochemical cycles, in which the agri-food system is the main contributor to this disruption, which is related to the uncontrolled use of fertilizers, which are based on phosphorus and nitrogen, that is, it is a use without criteria”, he stated.
The solutions to this problem, according to Duarte Torres, involve three measures, namely diet changes, technological improvements, and reducing food waste: “Changing the diet is essential to decrease greenhouse gases, and this means reducing red meat consumption to once a week and white meats to two to three times a week. In terms of technological issues, improvements are needed, such as more efficient use of resources and a decrease in the impact of land use”.
Urban agriculture as a solution
In turn, Pedro Rocha, Grower’s Network Weaver from Noocity, presented another type of solution that contributes to the decarbonization of the food sector, which involves urban agriculture. “The city is a space with opportunities for rural incursions and in which spaces that are unproductive can be utilized to introduce agriculture. Now, does this agriculture aim to meet our food needs? It will certainly answer to some extent, but it also has other functions, such as education and awareness”, he clarified.
The Noocity official also warned that most people have a very large ignorance of the entire value chain of the food system: “People’s contact with this system occurs, in the vast majority, on the supermarket shelf and, in this sense, urban agriculture can play a very important role here”.
In addition, the fact that urban agriculture has a very short distribution circuit also contributes to achieving carbon neutrality goals. “It must be understood that 1/5 of the greenhouse gas emissions from the agri-food system are associated with transport and, in this sense, this can help”, he said.
Bringing production closer to consumption is, for Pedro Rocha, one of the solutions to implement to improve the circularity of the food system: “It is important to bring agriculture closer to the city. This is the kind of problem where the power of change is more in the hands of each individual than in a more central entity”.
Adding to this, the official also highlighted the importance of betting on innovation and technology, in order to “innovate in processes, socially innovate, and innovate in business models to be circular”. “The city can play a very active role in this innovation and development because it can offer a market, since this is where companies are concentrated and this is where political power is concentrated. If the city does not act, we run a serious risk of then having food insecurity and becoming very dependent on the outside”, he concluded.
How can the retail sector contribute?
“Why do we have to delve into the topic of sustainability? Because of the law, because of investors, since at this moment, nobody invests in companies that don’t have a clear roadmap for sustainability, because we want to attract young talents to work with us, and because of the consumer,” began Pedro Lago, Director of Sustainability and Circular Economy at Sonae MC.
Although he started his presentation with the four reasons that compel companies to become more sustainable, Pedro Lago mentioned that it is also “important to have a very clear purpose from the companies themselves” when they embark on this kind of initiative, aiming to become more “green”.
In this regard, the Sonae MC executive highlighted the work the company has been doing throughout its value chain: “How do we see the future? In four blocks: future of products, of the planet, of people, and of communities.” Within the products, Pedro Lago noted that the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis, and overpopulation require the creation of production methods that respect the planet’s limits and a fair value chain for all. But for this to be possible, it is necessary to “influence the behavior of customers” and, according to the director of sustainability at Sonae MC, this involves creating “healthier and more sustainable products.”
“37% of our 267 national producers and associations have signed a sustainability declaration, which has a set of principles for this regenerative production. By 2030, we aim to have zero deforestation. We want to have a responsible offer, and an example of this is that we already have small gardens in some pilot stores for people to collect their own products. Not that this is the solution, but it helps in raising awareness and sensitizing customers,” he explained.
Other measures implemented by Sonae MC are related to reducing energy consumption, electrifying various equipment, installing more sustainable cold chains, producing and purchasing renewable energy, and the circularity of products, packaging, services, and resources. “With all these measures, we avoided 54 million euros of food waste,” he revealed.
Food Waste Management
But despite the various measures to avoid food waste, the truth is that it still occurs and, in this regard, Luís Assunção, Administrator of Porto Ambiente, highlighted the work that the Municipality of Porto has been developing to promote greater food circularity: “In promoting a more resilient food system, we are concerned with inducing sustainable behaviors and practices in the city. The municipality of Porto has community gardens that, although they cannot produce in large quantities, promote a behavior of production and proximity.”
Regarding consumption, the official ensured that the Municipality promotes “consumption in municipal markets, as well as through the fair of organic agriculture products in the City Park.” In addition to these, the approach of small producers through Good Food Hubs, networks of solidarity restaurants, and some awareness initiatives of restaurants and canteens with the “Right Dose” and “Wrap it” programs are examples of municipal intervention. In the case of the “Right Dose,” the goal is to support establishments in the preparation of the served doses, ensuring their quality and nutritional value without waste. With “Wrap it,” the mission is to make it easier for restaurant customers to take home what’s left of meals that are in good condition for later consumption. Only with “Wrap it,” in 2022, 7 tons of food waste were avoided.
Still, even with all these initiatives, the collection of food surplus proved crucial for the end of life of many products, and with that in mind, Porto Ambiente created the “Organic Project”: “The food waste sector was not addressed, it was addressed in the restaurant sector, but not in the residential sector. Now we have two large areas of single-family houses, where each dwelling has five containers, allowing the locals to dispose of their waste daily. Then we started thinking about what we would do in the rest of the city because it was not possible to have door-to-door collection in dense areas of the city, and this is where the Organic Project was born, which placed a brown container on the street, which allows all project participants to dump food surplus into the container.”
In total, Porto already has more than 600 containers on the street. But by the end of the year, they hope to have close to a thousand containers distributed throughout the city. “Only those who have an access card can put their waste in there, because the container is locked. And that happens because, from experience, we know that if the container is left open, it becomes a container for unsorted waste, so we want those who use it to be conscious,” he explained.
Last year, the “Organic Project” collected more than 10,000 tons of food surplus. “Now, just in May, we hit the record of 898 tons collected, so I believe that this year we will exceed the 10,000 tons. Still, we are far short of what is supposed because the PERSU 2030 says that we have to collect 60% of this waste and we are currently at half, about 30%, so we still have a way to go,” he concluded.
