Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

A new center against food waste is ready to launch in Municipality 3

Milan 14 January 2020 – The neighborhood hub in via Borsieri against food waste turns one and celebrates with great success: 77 tons of food for 154.000 equivalent meals recovered and 21 non-profit organizations involved, 11 supermarkets and 5 company canteens. A new hub is ready to take off in Municipio 3, in via Bassini 26.

“We can definitely speak of a great success for the hub in via Borsieri – comments the deputy mayor with responsibility for food policy Anna Scavuzzo –, which has thus laid the foundations for it to be replicated in other municipalities too. The numbers achieved demonstrate once again that if all the actors collaborate towards a common goal it is possible to create an effective and supportive network capable of responding to the needs of even a large city like Milan. Thanks to the participation of two new important players such as AVIS Municipality of Milan and Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Milano we are therefore now ready to start in Municipality 3 as well".

The neighborhood hub project was born within the actions defined in the "Zero waste" protocol promoted by the Municipality of Milan, Assolombarda, the Polytechnic of Milan, carried out in collaboration with the Lombardy Food Bank and supported by the QuBì Program - The recipe against child poverty promoted by the Cariplo Foundation with the support of the Vismara Foundation, Intesa Sanpaolo, the Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Foundation, the Fiera Milano Foundation and the Snam Foundation.

“The QuBì program – states Monica Villa, deputy director of the human services area of ​​the Cariplo Foundation – immediately chose to support the hubs as they allow us to recover fresh food, in particular fruit and vegetables and therefore improve the nutrition of people in poverty ”.

Programma QuBì will continue to support the hub in via Borsieri and that of Municipio 2020 also in 4, which will work in connection with the new hub in Lambrate.

The aim of the neighborhood hub is to provide concrete answers to the demand for reducing food waste in the city and access to food by people in need, guaranteeing a small-scale food collection and redistribution service. 

The tons of food donated in the via Borsieri hub were 77, for a total of approximately 154.000 equivalent meals, with an economic value of 308.000 euros, reaching the levels envisaged by the model studied by the Polytechnic of Milan among the project partners. Furthermore, the number of social actors using the service has increased over the course of the year: non-profit organizations have in fact gone from 14 to 21.

“I express enormous satisfaction in having contributed to creating a system solution to address the recovery of small and widespread surpluses, the most difficult to manage. These projects have an educational value in solidarity - both for individuals and for the community - which we deeply need in this era in which the risks of increasing social inequality and marginalization are high – states Alessandro Perego, Director of the Department of Management engineering and scientific manager of the Digital innovation observatories of the Polytechnic of Milan.

“After a year, the results of the project, stimulated and coordinated by the Lombardy Food Bank in logistics and in compliance with health and hygiene aspects, confirm that it is a successful response to the food needs in the area thanks to the collaboration network between public institutions, profit, non-profit and university – declares Marco Magnelli, Director of the Lombardy Food Bank.

Many companies associated with Assolombarda also participated in the donation of surplus food through the canteens, promoting the reduction of waste. Added to these are also those of large-scale organized distribution which recovers different types of food every day which pass through the hub and are redistributed to the various entities - in total 11 supermarkets and 5 company canteens.

“The success of the neighborhood hub in via Borsieri and the opening of the new hub in Municipality 3 are proof of the power of working as a system - declared Alessandro Scarabelli, General Director of Assolombarda -. An achievement that makes us proud, made possible thanks also to the decisive contribution of our companies, who have decided to play an active role to reduce food waste by promoting a replicable and effective model. The results of the initiative push us to strengthen our commitment on the topic, with the aim of increasingly spreading good practices and the culture of waste reduction in a logic of greater sustainability and responsibility towards our territory".

The most important news for 2020 is the new project for the opening of a further neighborhood hub in Municipality 3, in via Bassini 26, Lambrate area, thanks to the participation of AVIS municipality of Milan and Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Milano, which participated in the notice published by the Municipality of Milan in recent months.

“We are aware of the urgency of strengthening this network capable of combating food poverty and at the same time food waste throughout Milan – declares Giuseppe Maino, President of BCC Milan – therefore we have decided to support the project, whose objectives and values. In particular, we are proud of our Members who, foregoing the Bank's usual Christmas gift, have chosen to donate the corresponding amount to the creation of the neighborhood hub. We have long been committed to developing a virtuous network with the most important associative and institutional realities of the metropolitan city to support and enhance the best energies of the territory".

“AVIS Milan also participated in the public notice dedicated to neighborhood hubs as it is in line with our objectives - states Sergio Casartelli General Director of AVIS Milan - and through the making available of our spaces in Municipality 3, we will give our contribution to this important project in the city by becoming part of the network of actors involved in the fight against food waste in Milan".