Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The award is dedicated to actions to protect the environment and the Milan project against food waste is among the 3 finalists in the "A world without waste" section

Milan, September 17 2021 – This morning Prince William announced that the City of Milan, with the project of the Food Policy of the Neighborhood Hubs against food waste, is among the 15 finalists of the first edition of theEarthshot prize, prestigious international award on the best solutions to protect the environment.

In particular, Milan will compete for the prize dedicated to the "A world without waste" section with two other projects: one for the conversion of waste into safe products for agriculture (Kenya) and one which concerns a treatment plant that transforms 98% of wastewater into clean water (Japan). The neighborhood hub project was selected from 750 candidate initiatives from all over the world.

Having reached the final of the Earthshot prize is the recognition of great team work that involved the entire city: thanks to the Municipality and many private and third sector entities operating in the area, today Milan has 3 neighborhood hubs in Isola ( 2019), Lambrate (2020) and Gallaratese (2021).

The project was born from an alliance, in 2017, between the Municipality of Milan, the Polytechnic of Milan, Assolombarda, the Cariplo Foundation and the QuBì Program. The creation of the first Hub then involved the Lombardy Food Notice and made it possible to save over 10 tons of food per month, ensuring a flow of 260.000 equivalent meals in one year, which reached 3.800 people, thanks to the contribution of 20 supermarkets, 4 company canteens and 24 third sector bodies.

Subsequently, the Lambrate Hub was launched immediately after the first lockdown of spring 2020, again managed by the Lombardy Food Bank in a space made available by AVIS Milan and with the contribution of BCC Milan. The third Hub, in Gallaratese, is managed by Terre des hommes with the contribution of the Milan Foundation.

The next one, in the planning phase, will be the Corvetto neighborhood hub against food waste, with the management of the Lombardy Food Bank and the contribution of the SNAM Foundation; while to open a fifth of it the Municipality of Milan has recently started the co-planning round.

The project involves important large-scale retail brands including Lidl Italia, Esselunga, Carrefour, NaturaSi, Erbert, Coop Lombardia, Il Gigante, Bennet and Penny market. With Fondazione Cariplo and SogeMi, the Municipality of Milan has also launched the Foody zero waste initiative to replicate the hub model also at the vegetable market and recover fresh food together with Banco alimenare della Lombardia, Recup, Southern Milan Red Cross, University of Milan and many other supporting partners.

The winners will be announced in the second half of October.