According to a study dating from 2016, 10 million food products were thrown away in France, or thirty kilos per person and per year at home, including 7 kg of unconsumed food waste still packaged. A loss of sixteen billion euros. But behaviors are changing and even more so since inflation. But the fight against waste must be learned from an early age. It is for this reason that Too Good To Go has just created a completely free kit for primary school students. Six schools are already using it in Côte-d’Or. What does it look like ? Interview with Luisa Ravoyard, press officer for Too Good To Go.
– Too Good To Go
In 2016, 10 million tons of food were thrown away in France. Is that still the case today?
We always rely on the major study by Ademe which, in 2016, provided us with this figure. On the other hand, what we can see, even if we can’t really measure it, is that there is a general awareness among consumers about their behavior. We talk a lot more about anti-waste than before. In six years, we have saved 41 million baskets in France thanks to 32,000 partner merchants and 12 million French people who have already downloaded the app.
To change behavior, you have just launched a kit for schools to teach children the right gestures. How does this kit look?
It is a program that is aimed at primary school students, both theoretically and practically, giving them the right reflexes as early as possible. Concretely, it comes in the form of a kit, which makes the link between class time, canteen time and extracurricular time. It is made up of tools that are “turnkey” such as lesson sheets or board games, or even animation proposals that are easy to set up in schools. And it is a program that is completely free and available online on the site so that it is as accessible as possible.
Is it a pedagogy planned in one go or is it spread over the school year?
The teacher’s kit consists of nine sessions of approximately one hour, with a final evaluation. It’s something that lasts between nine and ten hours and most teachers who have tested the kit have spread it over one session per week, so say ten weeks.
How many schools are already using it in the Côte d’Or and what feedback do you have from those who have tested it?
In Côte d’Or, we have six schools (in Dijon, Ruffey-lès-Beaune, Thorey-sur-Ouche, Montbard, etc.) which have already downloaded the tools and the feedback is quite unanimous, both on the fact that It’s a subject, food waste, which interests children, which challenges them and which is closely linked to their daily lives. We have also had feedback on our tools telling us that they are very easy to use and fun. And that is important!
So if we can put a note, it would be 20 out of 20?
I hope !
Is this kit only for schools or it can also be used at home for parents who want to teach their children not to waste?
According to what we have had, it is in fact the children who, once they have been made aware at school, will come and educate their parents. So it’s more than the other way around. But there are actually tools from the kit that can be applied at home. I am thinking, for example, of board games. We’ve created a sort of “no-waste” family game of seven, as well as a revamped no-waste bingo that can be printed out by parents and used at home.
– Too Good To Go
Has inflation boosted the use of the Too Good To Go app in Côte-d’Or?
With more than 60,000 users in Côte d’Or and 315 partner businesses, Too Good To Go has already been able to save more than 360,000 baskets in the department since its launch. The products offered on the application are offered at a third of their initial value, which makes it possible to achieve a saving of 66%. “We have actually seen an increase in downloads of the application since March, about 30% more compared to the same period last year.” observes Luisa Ravoyard. There is therefore effectively a link made with inflation which reached 7.7% for food products in August.
“We really want to allow our users to be able to continue to enjoy good products at low prices and while doing something for the planet”. summarizes the representative of Too Good To Go.