Best Practice

SAVE FOOD is a joint initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and Messe Düsseldorf GmbH against worldwide food losses and waste. One third of all food is wasted or lost throughout the world, and the SAVE FOOD initiative has set itself the aim of reducing this figure for both humanitarian and environmental reasons. After all, the annual volume of greenhouse gases created in the production, processing, transportation and storage of unconsumed food is 3.3 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent, i.e. about half of the annual emissions produced both by China and the United States, respectively. Moreover, food waste comes third after China and the United States as one of the biggest greenhouse gas producers in the world, and such gases reach the atmosphere without being any use to anyone.

SAVE FOOD seeks to network between the relevant players in business, government and research, encourage dialogue and help to find solutions along the food value chain. Another aim is to initiate and promote special SAVE FOOD projects with support from industry.

SAVE FOOD was launched in Düsseldorf in May 2011 with an international convention and an exhibition as part of interpack, the world's leading trade fair in the packaging industry and the related processing industry.

It is no secret that sustainability, saving resources and energy efficiency are among the current trends in the energy-intensive foundry and metallurgy industries. For user industries, the latest resource-saving technologies and energy-efficiency solutions play a prominent role in investment decisions. So as early as 2011 Messe Düsseldorf initiated the “ecoMetals” campaign in cooperation with the leading metallurgy trade fairs GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST to recognise stand-out companies boasting innovative solutions for environmentally aware processes and manufacturing. In 2015 and 2019 24 enterprises took part in the ecoMetals Campaign by GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST; they were grouped in two so-called Trails and introduced to visitors during regular guided tours. Serving as the central point of contact and departure was an ecoMetals stand at the Nord Entrance. Furthermore, the stands of participating companies were signposted with the ecoMetals logo flagging up to all interested parties that sustainable products, processes and technologies were presented there.