Foodsaving is the act of using food to feed humans instead of disposing of it. It can be achieved by

• sharing left-over food with friends, neighbors and strangers
• establishing cooperations with supermarkets, restaurants etc
• dumpster diving at supermarket bins

Foodsaving usually doesn't involve paying for food, but rather collecting food that nobody is buying.

Why foodsaving?

The production of food for humans uses scarce resources like drinkable water and fossil fuel. Therefore, food is valuable and should be used as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, research has shown that about one third of all produced food is not used to feed humans, but rather goes into waste. The reasons for this are manifold, e.g. laziness, high costs, lack of knowledge and low awareness.

The foodsaving and -sharing movement raises awareness of food waste and takes measures to reduce it.

What is the difference between foodsaving and foodsharing?

First of all, foodsharing is the name of a German organization, website and movement, that has been successfully saving and sharing food since 2012. This often leads to some confusion, because the main thing in foodsharing.de also is the saving part, and the sharing just follows naturally due to the huge amounts of food saved, which couldn't possibly be eaten by the foodsavers themselves.

Secondly, foodsaving is the name we chose for our network of projects, initatives and individuals, who actively fight food waste by collecting leftovers from stores and restaurants - just like how foodsharing.de started it in Germany.

In short:

• foodsharing
  • the act of sharing food between humans
  • the German organization foodsharing.de

• foodsaving
  • the act of picking up leftovers from cooperating businesses, as well as dumpster diving and eating the food from the back of the fridge at your aunt's place
  • foodsaving worldwide: the international network of foodsharing and -saving projects