Whether it’s your mother, sister, wife or friend, we all have women in our lives that push us to be our best selves. If you needed another reason to show appreciation for the amazing girl bosses that inspire you, look no further than International Women’s Day on March 8. On this day, we come together to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all over the world.
There are countless women that deserve recognition for actively fighting food loss and waste. We share three food waste heroines whose actions have shaped diets, promoted planet-friendly lifestyle changes and quite frankly - changed the world for the better.
1. Selina Juul, food waste activist and founder of Stop Wasting Food
“Food waste is a lack of respect for our nature, for our society, for the people who produce the food, for the animals, and a lack of respect for your time and your money.”
Selina Juul is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Stop Wasting Food movement in Denmark. She is a key member of Champions 12.3, and a notable food waste expert who has helped cut Denmark’s food waste by 25% in just five years. Her projects include rebranding doggy bags for leftover food as goody bags to take home, and reducing wastage on discounted items with Rema 1000, the country’s biggest budget supermarket franchise.
2. Kavita Shukla, inventor and founder of FreshPaper
“I learned the world’s farmers are harvesting enough food to feed the planet but we just aren’t able to distribute food efficiently enough … so much of making a difference is just understanding that usually you are enough, you have everything you need to take the first step.”
Kavita Shukla is the inventor and founder of FreshPaper, an antibacterial sheet that uses herbs to keep food fresh. She started working on the idea when she was 12, after seeing her grandmother in India use fenugreek to fight bacteria in tap water, and now FreshPaper is distributed to farmers and families in over 35 countries. She aims to provide a food waste solution to the 1.6 billion people around the world that do not have access to refrigeration.
3. Jess Kurti, food bank volunteer
“We need more education to shift mindsets, maybe beginning in elementary school teaching about what we consume and what we waste. I think it’s important to teach meal planning and how to help people with busy lives not throw out so much.”
After losing her job and deciding she wanted to live a more service-driven life, Jess Kurti set herself the goal of becoming the first person to volunteer in each of Feeding America’s 200 food banks. She combined her passion for seeing everyone have access to healthy and nutritious food with her passion for running, completing 100 marathons across the US.
Do you know any other inspirational women helping fight food waste? Share this blog with them on social media or let us know about them in the comments!