Day 282: Sharing food waste

This morning I led a workshop about sharing economy. It was at Power Shift, an event for young who want to mobilize for a more sustainable society. To tell you the truth I think it's the first time I've ever led a workshop. And I've rarely participated in one either. But I guessed it should be more interactive than just me giving some speech. So I mostly asked the group of 8-10 people who were there questions. Like: Do you participate in the sharing economy? If not, why? What are the barriers? How can we get more people to join?

It was interesting for me to hear their thoughts, and I hope they got something from it too. When it comes to barriers we came up with a few different types which I've also noticed. 1) Lack of a critical mass of users on the platforms 2) A social barrier - that people feel uncomfortable sharing or meeting other people 3) Practical barriers - that it's not convenient enough. Perhaps it's easier to just go to the store and buy that drill.

We talked a lot about food sharing, since I started using the app Olio and there was a guy there who was an ambassador for it. Someone brought up dumpster diving. This is something I haven't tried, and even if I could eat food after the best before date I'd definitely prefer if it's not been in a dumpster. Even though the guy telling me this said the bananas he finds are usually perfectly fine. But there must be better ways to do this. I know some stores sell short dated food cheaper, which seems to be a better solution.

I've also heard of one initiative in Malmö called Rude Food that do catering from food waste. Given that all sorts of commercial food production is strictly regulated in Sweden, I'm a bit surprised such a thing is even legal. But it's an interesting concept and personally I think people should have the right to choose. Do you want to buy super fresh food and spend more money? Cool. Or slightly older food and spend less (and have a slightly higher risk of getting a little sick?)? Fine.