Real Junk Food Berlin is part of the international organization The Junk Food Project that aims to raise awareness around the topic of food waste and new sustainable food systems. Their activities include the use of food that would otherwise go to waste and the conduction of workshops and courses sharing ways to avoid food waste.

Ongoing initiative from 2015

Fighting food waste and promoting sustainable lifestyles, the Real Junk Food aims to communicate the consequences of climate change and how individuals can contribute to their goal with their lifestyle. The ultimate goal is a change in behaviour and new policies to avoid food waste.

The main public policy of reference are the regulations that require the disposal of food in restaurants or supermarkets that are close to or beyond their best-before date.

It also addresses the lack of policies to punish excessive food waste and the regulation of how leftover goods can be used.

Co-creating new value from goods that would otherwise go to waste while creating benefits for those who need it. It is also worth mentioning the inclusive approach adopted with the pay-as-you-feel model giving (almost) all people the opportunity to join without high monetary boundaries or the need of certain skills or financial availabilities.

A single activist started the general movement in the UK in 2013. Since then, a network of volunteers and activists has established replicating the movement in a series of cities and countries. It is based on individual contribution, but the networks in each city aim to collaborate with associations, local businesses and citizen communities to strengthen the local bondings.

Activists - Accountable, active

Volunteers - Accountable, active

Restaurants - Active/Consulted

Initiatives in other cities - Consulted/Informed

• A general legal base or context that allows the collection and further processing of food is fundamental to allow the initiative to operate.
• A culture of sharing and existing similar social initiatives foster the set up and embedding of such projects based on volunteer work.
• Political: Fighting food waste as part of political agendas
• Economic: All work is on volunteer base, low starting cost, few equipment needed
  
• Legal: Laws for the distribution of food enhancing the effective use and processing of foods

• Political: Issues justifying why restaurants/supermarkets cannot sell goods anymore and should donate them to an initiative that eventually cooks with them and sells the meals
• Economic: ‘Loss’ of revenue for the original owners of the raw products/material 
• Social: Hesitation of people to buy and/or consume food that has been labelled as expired
  
• Legal: Laws against the sales/distribution of food beyond the best-before-date

The initiative was accepted and supported by a lot of locals volunteering regularly at the numerous events to back the project by helping to collect, prepare or distribute food. No business model was identified in order to make the initiative financially sustainable over time and develop a real revenue model.

The initiative is replicable in other contexts, originating from the UK, the project was replicated in a number of cities across Europe. Scaling appears slightly more difficult being based on individual contribution of volunteers and small communities shaping around the idea of transforming food waste into meals.

Main positive lessons/opportunities identified:

• Strong commitment from volunteers
• Replicability of the initiative in other cities & countries
• No need for particular technical knowledge or abilities to participate

Main failures/barriers identified:

• Difficulty in producing revenue
• Achieve long-term commitment from sellers/producers
  
• Overcome policy barriers for the sales of intercepted food

• Number of meals sold at event
• Number of guests showing up to events
• Number of regular partners donating goods
  
• Number of recurring volunteers active in the community