Over the course of the TONOWASTE project, research, pilot experiences and lessons learned have progressively been translated into practical knowledge that can be shared beyond the consortium. One of the main ways of doing this has been through the project’s Practice Abstracts.
TONOWASTE has now produced 92 Practice Abstracts, bringing together results and experiences developed across the project and making them available in a concise and accessible format through the project’s Results section.
Rather than presenting research only through technical reports and scientific publications, the Practice Abstracts provide a more direct way to communicate what has been learned, tested and developed. They cover experiences from different parts of the food system and address the needs of audiences ranging from farmers and food businesses to public authorities, educators, researchers and consumers.
A record of how the project has evolved
The first Practice Abstracts, published in 2023, introduced TONOWASTE’s overall approach and some of the challenges the project set out to address. They explored areas such as stakeholder engagement, decision-making, pilot activities, food supply chains and the role of households in food waste prevention.
Since then, the collection has grown alongside the project itself.
The abstracts document work carried out in the project’s pilot environments and by partners across Europe, including experiences in supermarkets, community kitchens, educational environments, wholesale markets and the fruit and vegetable supply chain. They also address consumer behaviour, food redistribution, stakeholder engagement and the environmental, social and economic dimensions of food loss and waste.
This reflects TONOWASTE’s wider objective: supporting farmers, supply-chain actors, consumers and policymakers with more integrated and evidence-based information to help them make decisions towards more sustainable food production and consumption.
From understanding food waste to testing solutions
One of the strengths of the Practice Abstract collection is the diversity of the results it captures.
Some abstracts focus on understanding where and why food loss and waste occurs. Others look at how impacts can be measured more comprehensively. For example, the project has explored environmental footprint approaches and multi-criteria decision-making methods to assess food waste prevention and reduction solutions from several sustainability perspectives rather than considering a single indicator.
Other Practice Abstracts move directly into implementation. They describe pilot actions with businesses, consumers and communities, as well as interventions designed to identify critical points in supply chains and evaluate whether specific measures can reduce waste.
Digital solutions also form part of this work. The Food Supply Chain application, for instance, has been adapted within TONOWASTE to help organisations quantify, monitor and improve the prevention and management of food loss and waste across their operations.
Learning from people and places
The Practice Abstracts also show that reducing food waste cannot be approached through technology or measurement alone.
Citizen participation, education and behavioural change have been an important part of the project. In Valencia, participatory workshops brought together university students, members of the public and agri-food professionals to reflect on the causes and consequences of food waste and co-create possible solutions. One round of activities involved 91 participants, while a dedicated professional group brought together representatives from different parts of the local food ecosystem.
Education has been another area where project experience has been turned into reusable knowledge. Practice Abstracts 72 to 83 form a complete guide describing how awareness-raising actions on food waste can be designed, organised, implemented and evaluated in public educational centres. The series covers everything from selecting schools and dealing with administrative and ethical requirements to adapting communication materials, carrying out the activities and evaluating their results.
More recent abstracts also provide guidance on adapting sustainability and food-waste communication to different audiences, including the general public and professionals in the HORECA sector.
Practical results for the food supply chain
As TONOWASTE has moved closer to its final results, many of the Practice Abstracts have become increasingly focused on tools and approaches that can be transferred into everyday practice.
At Mercavalència, for example, project experience has been used to develop guidance for fruit and vegetable wholesalers preparing their own Food Loss and Waste Prevention Plans. The methodology covers initial assessment, process mapping, identification of critical points, measurable objectives, action planning, staff training and monitoring. It is designed as an approach that can be adapted by other wholesalers and wholesale markets.
A complementary technological solution supports the management and recovery of food that can no longer be marketed but may still be suitable for human consumption. The system helps connect wholesalers with social organisations, supports redistribution and makes it possible to record and monitor recovered food.
These examples illustrate an important progression within the project: moving from identifying the causes and impacts of food waste towards providing practical ways for organisations and communities to act on that knowledge.
Making TONOWASTE knowledge available beyond the project
Practice Abstracts are intentionally short and practical. Their value lies not only in recording what the project has done, but in making its experience easier for others to understand, adapt and apply.
Together, the 92 abstracts provide a snapshot of the breadth of TONOWASTE: research and assessment methodologies, pilot experiences, consumer behaviour, education, communication, stakeholder engagement, technological tools, food redistribution and practical guidance for businesses and public organisations.
They also show how the project has evolved from investigating the complexity of food loss and waste to testing solutions in real environments and transforming those experiences into knowledge that can continue to be used after individual project activities have ended.
All TONOWASTE Practice Abstracts can be explored through the project’s Results section, where they are available alongside the project’s deliverables and other outputs.