Food Waste in the Swiss Environment Arena

Around one third of all food produced in Switzerland is lost or wasted in this way. This corresponds to around 2 million tons of food per year. Food waste occurs along the entire food chain. However, around half of this is caused in private households. Last week's leftover spaghetti, expired yogurt or spontaneous changes of plans lead to the accumulation of food waste, which adds up to a lot over the population. If 200 g of leftover spaghetti accumulates once a year in each of the approximately four million Swiss households, for example, this already amounts to 800 tons of food waste - enough to fill more than 220 construction site dumpsters.

The interactive exhibition provides answers specifically for private households to questions such as "Why don't apples and bananas get along?" "What can you do with stale bread instead of feeding it to the swans?" and provides practical tips in five steps for the daily handling of food - be it menu planning, shopping, storage at home or recycling leftovers.

Various modules provide information about the main reasons for food waste in the household, give inspiration for creative menus from leftovers and about the ideally arranged kitchen. At the kitchen station, visitors learn how they can extend the shelf life of their food through optimal storage and thus reduce food waste, and at another station they can test whether they can correctly estimate portion sizes.

A highlight of the exhibition in the Umwelt Arena is the Knipsbox: Visitors can take self-timer photos of their own tips and tricks on how they will avoid food waste in the future - and immediately share them digitally with family and friends.

The temporary exhibition "Food Waste - For the Love of Food" is in the Umwelt Arena until January 27, 2019. The performance is supported by the Lotteriefonds Kanton Aargau, the Kulturpark Zürich, the Ernst Göhner Stiftung and the OGG Bern.