10.06.2022.
Today the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Fond published the Public Call for co-financing the purchase of biowaste (food waste) composter machines for hotels.The value of the call is HRK 1.5 million, while hotels can get up to 40% of eligible costs, or a maximum of 150,000 per application, for the purchase of new dehydrators and/or digesters.
The co-financing of these devices is a follow-up on the project “Reduce food waste, cook for your guests”, which the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund launched in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable development, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Two hotels – one in Osijek and the other one in Pula – participated in the initial phase of the project, when they implemented food waste reduction measures in daily operations. The hotels measured the quantities of discarded food that would become waste, and they provided training for the staff preparing and serving food to improve the precision of measurements, and to motivate them to ensure sustainability of the food waste prevention scheme. The Fund also prepared a guidebook for hotels with guidelines, recommendations, and methods that can reduce food waste, which was presented in workshops and webinars held by the Fund, when the call that was launched today was also announced. The announced incentives will be granted until the allocated funding is used up, or until the end of the year.
“The Fund is constantly implementing different waste management projects, one of them being the pilot “Reduce food waste, cook for your guests” that started last year. According to EU directives and the Waste Management Plan for the period 2017 – 2022, 40% of the produced biowaste has to be separated, and until the end of 2023, biowaste has to be separated and recycled at source, or collected separately and not mixed with other types of waste. This includes reducing the food waste as part of biowaste. This will also reduce the landfilling of biowaste, which is one of the main goals of the project,” said Alenka Košiša Čičin-Šain, the acting director of the Fund.
