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Stronger Together: FOLOU and WASTELESS Joined Forces to Cut Food Loss and Waste

08/06/2026

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release

By: Valerie Verniers on behalf of FOLOU, Luminita Ciolacu and Sofia Reis on behalf of WASTELESS

Over the past years, the Horizon Europe sister projects FOLOU and WASTELESS have built a strong and fruitful collaboration in the shared ambition to reduce food loss and waste across Europe. Funded under the same Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-01), both projects have closely collaborated since the very beginning, already starting during the Grant Agreement preparation phase. Through regular coordination meetings, participation in each other’s External Expert Advisory Boards, joint dissemination activities, cross-promotion, participation in common events and collaboration within knowledge-sharing platforms, FOLOU and WASTELESS continuously exchanged expertise and created valuable synergies to maximise the impact of their research and innovation activities.

One big achievement of the collaboration was the organisation of the joint free webinar: “Current developments in Food Loss & Waste reduction” in June 2024. The webinar brought together representatives of several EU projects, to discuss the current status and latest developments in the field of food loss and waste. It was divided into 4 sessions, each with an invited keynote speaker followed by the EU projects sharing their goals, achievements and valuable insights from their work. More than 300 people registered for the webinar and attended the two days of the different sessions.

This successful cooperation was once again highlighted during the WASTELESS Final Conference, “Towards 2030: Tools, Policy Dialogue, and Future Pathways”, which took place in Brussels on 23 April 2026. The event brought together policymakers, researchers, industry representatives and EU-funded initiatives to reflect on the project’s key achievements and discuss future pathways towards reducing food loss and waste in Europe. Representing FOLOU, partners Julia Tanzer and Wouter Maes actively participated in the event, contributing to discussions and exchanges with stakeholders from across the European food system landscape. Their presence further reinforced the close relationship between both sister projects and highlighted the importance of continued collaboration between EU initiatives tackling food loss and waste from complementary perspectives. As the transition towards more sustainable and resilient agrifood systems continues, collaboration, knowledge exchange and joint action across projects and sectors will remain key to driving meaningful change and tackling the challenges that still lie ahead.

This strong collaboration between FOLOU and WASTELESS lays a solid foundation for continued joint action beyond the projects’ lifetime to amplify their impact and support progress towards the 2030 sustainability targets. Ultimately, their joint legacy highlights the power of collaboration in driving long-term, systemic change in food systems.

Contact information

• FOLOU Project
  Nancy Peña Valbuena
  Coordinator, FOLOU Project
  BETA Technological Centre – University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC)
  Email: nancy.pena@uvic.cat

• WASTELESS Project
  Ana Isabel Novo de Barros
  Coordinator, WASTELESS Project
  University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) / CITAB
  Email: abarros@utad.pt