Beautiful Inside

Scenario

Food waste It is not just about food. To get food to our tables, numerous natural resources are invested, with a major environmental impact. With wasted food, resources such as water, fertilizer, soil, fossil fuels and energy resources of all kinds are also wasted. Food waste is synonymous with food waste.

Since 1974, food waste has increased by 50 percent, with billions of tons of food ending up in the dustbin. An analysis conducted by the FAO, shows that food waste in the world amounts to more than 1.3 billion tons per year: out of 3.9 billion tons of food produced, 1.3 end up in the trash.

Food waste in the way has three critical points:

• Food losses: covers losses upstream in the food supply chain;
• Food waste: the waste that occurs during industrial distribution;
• Household waste: purchased foods that are not consumed.

Food waste in Italy is of great concern. One year of food waste in Italy would feed forty-four and a half million people.

According to scientific research from the University of Naples, in 2012, food waste in Italy touched 1,226 million cubic meters of water used to produce the food that was then thrown away without being consumed. An incredible waste of water when one considers that the same amount of water could have met the annual water needs of 19 million Italians.

On the emissions front, 24.5 million tons of CO₂ are unnecessarily released into the atmosphere to produce food goods destined for the dustbin. The figures just reported are frightening, which is why solutions need to be found to reduce food waste and thus environmental impact and social inequality.

Description

The Bella Dentro project was born in 2018 from an idea of Luca and Camilla, two twenty-eight year olds, who managed to create a logistical network in the territory, buying ugly products at a fair price, directly from producers, and then reselling them directly to consumers, at a lower price than in supermarkets. The goal is to create a true alternative waste-free supply chain that starts from the field and reaches the table, where every step is guaranteed, transparent and respectful of the“inner beauty” of the products.

For a year and a half, Luca and Camilla drove all over Milan in their bee car to sell fruits and vegetables. The feedback was immediately positive, people were intrigued and came by to taste their products, later becoming customers. So they decided to open a physical store in Milan, so they could save more and more fruits and vegetables.

In 2020, they succeeded in creating the first line of processed products, so they can store fruits and vegetables longer and thus avoid generating waste in turn. Anything that remains unsold is donated to neighborhood charities. The workshop in which the products are processed is also not left to chance. The products are processed by the Social Cooperative, which trains and employs children and adults with autism or severe cognitive retardation.