Ecomori: the volunteers who collect leftover food from the markets

ECOMORI AGAINST FOOD WASTE

From one of the markets of the most frequented neighborhoods in Turin, in the Porta Palazzo area, an extraordinary experience of fight against food waste and help to citizens poor and to the families of refugees. This is the initiative carried out by Ecomori, a group of volunteers, including refugees and asylum seekers, who every day place themselves as guardians within the market and do their generous anti-waste work.

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FOOD WASTE

It works like this: From 13pm to 14pm the volunteers go into action asking the market traders who has extra food to leave him?i. A practice that has now taken hold with the blessing of the shopkeepers who have understood that the activity does not take away their customers. And the results are extraordinary. On average, every day, the volunteers wearing the orange vests manage to recover approximately 200 kilos of perfectly edible food. So many foods, so many products, which would otherwise end up in the trash And instead they serve to fill the tables of poor families, elderly and lonely people, in great difficulty, immigrants and refugees who struggle. An extraordinary feat that on Saturdays, when the Porta Palazzo market is particularly crowded, manages to recover up to 600 kilos of food which would otherwise be wasted. With a virtuous effect also on the supply chain waste disposal, because the volunteers, in agreement with the Municipality of Turin, with Amiat, the company that manages waste, and with the Novamont company, also distribute bags for organic waste which contribute to carrying out an efficient collectionAnd among other things, the "Ecomori" are on the front lines helping fill the bins.

SOLIDARITY INITIATIVES IN TURIN –

The credit for this initiative goes to Paolo Hutter, of the Eco delle Città portal, which also invented the word “Ecomori”, combining the term ecological with "moru“, that is, the Piedmontese epithet with which black people are identified. The choice of such a name is due to the fact that the group of refugees, guests of the city centers, is the true protagonist of the initiative. These young people, in fact, have given their full availability to collect the leftovers from the shopping, making themselves useful and contributing to building a culture of reuse. The ecomori They also have a Facebook page titled Turin's Food Rescue Sentinels, with more than 5 members, which they use to update all their anti-waste initiatives. They also provide the times and days they operate at the various markets in the Piedmontese capital. 

The photos are taken from the website Eco dalle città

OTHER INITIATIVES TO AVOID FOOD WASTE

• At Rio Crosio Primary School in Asti, food waste is being fought with half portions.
• In Asti, a zero-waste school cafeteria teaches children to value food.
• Fighting food waste: how Denmark is a world leader. A lesson for Italy.
• Ivana Di Martino is running a thousand kilometers against food waste. Go, Ivana!