Innovarum (ES), in collaboration with Aitiip Centro Tecnológico (ES), is proud to celebrate the second anniversary of the SISTERS EU Project hosting the in-person consortium meeting in Madrid, Spain this past Tuesday, October 10^th, 2023. During the meeting, the entire consortium gathered from 8 European countries to discuss the project’s activity progress and to prepare for the challenges to come. Since its kick-off meeting in November 2021, this innovative project has made significant strides in combatting food waste across Europe.

SISTERS is an EU-funded project that is developing innovations targeted to each main stage of the agrifood value chain to systemically reduce food loss and waste in Europe. SISTERS is addressing the problem in a holistic way, working towards reducing food loss and waste by 27.4% and CO₂ emissions by around 20% in the case studies.

Main results achieved by SISTERS in ther last two years

• Launch of the Short Chain Platform (Regioneo) app and website prototype with 100 primary producers who will participate in the trial versions and selling direct produce in all available forms (ugly and/or regular fruits and vegetables).  Fruit and vegetable producers still can apply to participate in the test phase.
• Development of smart containers (Bulkboxes) and sensor kits for monitoring temperature and relative humidity during transportation and storage. First experiments for validation of the Bulkboxes and sensor kits performances with different fresh products (apples, peppers and mushrooms).
• Selection of the best performance formulations to produce flexible and rigid biobased packaging and the first disintegration and biodegradation tests carried out with promising results.
• Development of a questionnaire to investigate consumers' views on food waste and their perceptions regarding bio-based packaging by Fondazione Edmund Mach (IT). The survey was translated into five languages and distributed across Europe gathering information from more than 1400 consumers.
• Development of a comprehensive market analysis and exploitation plan to provide a detailed investigation into the characteristics of the markets in which the SISTERS innovations are going to be deployed.

The previously mentioned results that were achieved by SISTERS have been presented in many prestigious events across Europe, such as Ecomondo, Fruit Attraction, Food4Future, PLMA and SIAL Paris.

“Short Chains can be a game changer that will help us reduce fruit and vegetables waste, while increasing producers’ revenues and reducing Green Gas Emission and our consumption of environmental resources” states Laurent Caplat, manager of Agence BM-Services (FR). Developers of Regioneo, the 1^st European Short Chain Platform prototype developed by SISTERS.

“Coordinating SISTERS partners along these two years has been incredible as we can see from the inside how partners work aiming their efforts reach a common goal coming from different perspectives and value chain stage” addresses Carolina Peñalva, SISTERS Project Coordinator and member of the I+D department at Aitiip Centro Tecnológico (ES). Aitiip is the leader in charge of developing, together with other specialized packaging organisations in Europe such as Carbiolice (FR), ITC Packaging (ES), and Rebus Labs (CH), bio-based and home-compostable packaging solutions to reduce food losses during transportation and handling.

“EROSKI's remarkable commitment to fighting food waste is evident in our multifaceted approach. We prioritize achieving zero waste, emphasizing health and sustainability. Through prevention, facility renovation, expiration date management, and daily donations, we tackle this challenge head-on.” Emphasizes Ainara Llona, Head of Innovation and R+D+i Funding at Eroski (ES). The multinational supermarket chain is supervising the development of a novel seal of excellence to foster sustainable practices in retailers and wholesalers.

Testing innovations at the primary production and logistics stage

Looking ahead, the SISTERS consortium remains committed to continue working towards the advancement of the project objectives. During the next year, partners will work on the correct functioning of the innovations at the primary production and distribution stage: the Short Chain Platform (Regioneo) and the new technological transport solutions prototypes. The success of SISTERS serves as a testament to the effectiveness of collaborative efforts in combating food waste and in constructing a solid sustainable food system.

For more information about the SISTERS project, please visit https://sistersproject.eu/ or contact Carolina Peñalva (Project Coordinator) at carolina.penalva@aitiip.com and Andrea León (Communications Coordinator) at andrea.leon@innovarum.es