For the sixth consecutive year, Banca de Alimente, with the support of Kaufland Moldova, is launching the national campaign “Less waste, More Good” – an initiative that brings together education, solidarity and social responsibility. The campaign runs activities in schools and communities across the country. It encourages children, teachers, and families to appreciate the work behind each product and adopt responsible behaviour towards food. The project reaffirms the partners’ shared commitment to a more equitable and sustainable society – one in which every resource counts.
A generation that says “Stop waste!”
Starting today and until 1 December 2025, over 1,200 children from 12 schools across the country will become little anti-waste ambassadors. Through interactive activities and educational games, children will learn how they can reduce waste at home, in their own families, because every conscious gesture can make a difference. Each school library involved in the campaign, as well as each child participating in one of the 12 workshops, will receive a Waste Prevention Guide produced by the Food Bank with the support of Kaufland Moldova, a material recommended by the Ministry of Education and Research.
The campaign launch event took place in Ungheni, bringing together around 100 students, and the educational workshop caravan will continue in Chișinău, Bălți, Orhei and Comrat.
“Fighting food waste is an important pillar of Kaufland’s sustainability strategy, which is why we have developed a strategic partnership with Banca de Alimente. We are already in the sixth edition of the “Less waste, more good” campaign, and we are delighted that, through activities in schools in the Republic of Moldova, we are able to promote the anti-waste message. We strongly believe that responsible behaviour is learned from an early age, and young people are the most important ambassadors of change,” said Cristina Aramă, Corporate Affairs Manager at Kaufland Moldova.
This year’s edition also brings a special novelty: a national competition aimed at strengthening a community of responsible schools that support the campaign and promote “zero waste” behaviour. Through the “Anti-Waste Week in My School” competition, the most creative and ingenious initiatives dedicated to reducing waste will be rewarded by the organisers and promoted as examples of good practice at national level. The campaign will also include awareness-raising activities aimed at promoting sustainable practices and preventing food waste.
The final event of the sixth edition will bring together artists, content creators and representatives of the business community, partners of the Kaufland and Banca de Alimente teams, in a platform for a dialogue with interactive experiences. Through art, examples of good practices in every family’s kitchen and traditional sustainability programmes, the event will motivate behavioural change and drive concrete actions to reduce food waste.
Oleg Paraschiv, director of the Food Bank: “Less waste, more good” has become, over the course of six editions, a national platform for education and awareness of the extent of food waste. Thousands of children have become little ambassadors of responsibility, demonstrating that change begins with small but consistent steps. Because reducing food waste involves systemic and lasting changes, in addition to education and awareness-raising activities, we complement this objective every day with recovery and advocacy activities. In this way, we act responsibly and humanely.”
One third of the food produced globally ends up being lost or thrown away, while millions of people live in food insecurity. Of the total food waste, 40% occurs in households, 25% in the production sector, another 25% in the processing sector and 15% in the commercial sector. According to estimates by local economic experts, in the Republic of Moldova, between 71 and 75 kg per capita are thrown away each year, i.e. 180,000 tonnes annually, the equivalent of 3,000 freight wagons over a length of 40 km. On the other hand, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the absolute poverty rate in Moldova is 33.6%.
About Kaufland Moldova & Banca de Alimente
Kaufland is one of the largest retail companies in Europe, with over 1,540 stores in 8 countries, over 155,000 employees and a network of 9 stores in the Republic of Moldova. Taking ecological and social responsibility is an essential aspect of Kaufland’s corporate policy. The company believes that the world can be a better place through everyone’s involvement. That is why, in 2018, Kaufland developed the “Involvement makes a difference” platform, under which all social responsibility actions are communicated.
Banca de Alimente is an innovative mechanism in Moldova, focused on recovering food products from the agri-food chain and redistributing them to social services that assist people affected by hunger. Since March 2022, the Bank has been an associate member of the European Federation of Food Banks. The Food Bank team first trialled the food recovery mechanism with Kaufland as an economic agent. The process was constantly analysed, documented and represents a model of good practice.
Alongside food recovery efforts, the Bank supports advocacy actions to improve the national legal framework for preventing food waste and promotes a culture of respect for food and social solidarity. Since 2021, over 500,000 kg of food products have been saved and distributed through more than 90 social services across the country.
