Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment works with water quality, climate change, waste management and forestry, but it’s a campaign looking at food waste Charity Hackers will be helping with.

 

Set up in 1995 following the withdrawal of Greenpeace Ireland, Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment is mostly just Mindy O’Brien plugging away along with some passionate volunteers.

 

 

In a nutshell the group encourages working with rather than against nature, and its aims include informing the public, helping to facilitate people countrywide to express their concerns on environmental policy and influencing government policies in the area of environment.

 

Mindy applied to Charity Hack with a specific topic in mind however - food waste. She wants help coming up with a creative and proactive way of reducing food waste.

 

“The environment affects us all,” Mindy says, highlighting the social, environmental and financial impact of food waste. “Some people say: ‘What can I do? I’m just a gnat on the elephant that is the world.’ What we’re saying is surplus food should be used not thrown away. Let’s feed the hungry. Let’s divert this food from landfill. People are buying food and throwing away 40 per cent of it. That’s like throwing away money.”

 

Initially Mindy thought of running with an “ugly food” campaign, arranging for misshapen and rejected produce to be sold in shops at a reduced price. However after speaking to farmers and being told selling ugly food is not really a problem for them (soup doesn’t mind what shape carrots go into it!), she’s come up with another plan - The Clean Plate Club.

 

One of the ways we waste food is of course when eating out. A clean plate means no food waste, and Mindy is hoping to push the idea of joining “The Clean Plate Club” and therefore reducing food waste.

 

This could be done by forcing ourselves to eat every last morsel on the plate when we go out for dinner. A more realistic and healthy way however would be to convince restaurateurs to offer half portions, and promote a doggie bag culture of bringing leftovers home.

 

“It means working with just one body - restaurants,” Mindy says, adding that the campaign really doesn’t have to cost a lot. She wonders if postcards or badges saying something along the lines of “I’ve joined the Clean Plate Club” might help. It’s also probably worth bearing in mind that patrons of the charity include Darina Allen, Christy Moore, Dick Warner and Don Conroy.

 

What’s stopping Mindy doing the work of Charity Hack is threefold - time, skills and money. “It’s just me,” she explains, adding that it’s hard to fundraise and come up with winning campaigns while also looking at policy and doing grassroots work.

 

There’s no money in the pot for a campaign, and Mindy is also quick to admit that while she has skills to spare in some areas, in others she’s a little lacking. “I have the policy and know how, but I don’t have the marketing,” she says. “I love the idea of sitting down for 13 hours with a skillset that I don’t have.”

 

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment

www.voiceireland.org

www.facebook.com/voiceireland.org

@voice_ireland