The Ayuntamiento de Eivissa has formally joined the Zero Food Waste project, an initiative promoted by Grupo Herbusa that aims to prevent food waste and encourage more responsible use of food among residents and businesses across the municipality.

The adhesion agreement was signed on Tuesday, 29 September at the Casal de Igualdad de Eivissa, coinciding with World Food Waste Day.

With the agreement, Eivissa becomes the latest public administration on the island to join the initiative, alongside the Consell d'Eivissa and the municipalities of Sant Josep de sa Talaia and Sant Antoni de Portmany.

Focus on prevention and awareness

The initiative is centred on preventing food from becoming waste in the first place.

According to the project, Zero Food Waste works with administrations, companies and professionals through awareness campaigns, training and technical advice designed to identify where food waste is generated and introduce measures to reduce it.

For the Ayuntamiento de Eivissa, joining the project will allow the municipality to strengthen the promotion of good practices among residents and businesses.

The council says this will include awareness activities aimed particularly at sectors such as hospitality, restaurants and food businesses, where food is regularly purchased, prepared and consumed.

Eivissa joins other island administrations

The incorporation of Eivissa means that the island's main public administrations are increasingly represented within the initiative.

The Consell d'Eivissa and the municipalities of Sant Josep de sa Talaia and Sant Antoni de Portmany had already joined Zero Food Waste. The Ayuntamiento de Eivissa's participation adds the island capital to the group.

The project is designed around cooperation between the public and private sectors, with administrations helping to promote awareness while businesses and professionals can implement practical measures in their own operations.

A particular focus on hospitality and tourism

The Ayuntamiento has highlighted the importance of working with Ibiza's tourism, hospitality and restaurant sectors.

The island's large hospitality and food-service industry means that businesses have an important role in reducing waste through purchasing, preparation, storage and management of surplus food.

Zero Food Waste's own programme includes technical work with restaurant teams, measurement of food waste, analysis of where waste is generated and the development of measures to reduce it. The project also identifies options for giving surplus food a second use, including recipes and donations where appropriate.

What the Ayuntamiento will contribute

The municipality says its participation will focus on promoting good practices and supporting awareness activities among citizens, companies and professionals.

The aim is to encourage a culture of using food responsibly and reducing waste at its source rather than relying only on waste management once food has already been discarded.

Councillor for Environment and Cleaning Jordi Grivé said the agreement represents another step towards responsible management of resources and stressed the importance of preventing usable food from becoming waste.

He also said public administrations should contribute, set an example and help ensure that the message reaches more people and businesses.

Collaboration between institutions, businesses and residents

Grivé also highlighted cooperation between administrations, companies and citizens as an important element of the initiative.

The municipality says collaboration is particularly relevant in Eivissa because of the importance of tourism, hospitality and restaurants to the local economy.

The project is intended to bring those different groups together around practical measures for better food use and waste prevention.

Herbusa welcomes Eivissa's participation

Vicente Bufí Fernández, vice-president of Grupo Herbusa, welcomed the Ayuntamiento's incorporation, describing it as an important step in extending Zero Food Waste across the island.

Herbusa says the involvement of more public administrations will allow the project to work with a wider network of businesses and residents around the common objective of reducing the amount of food that becomes waste.

What is Zero Food Waste?

Zero Food Waste is a Herbusa initiative created to prevent and reduce food waste in Ibiza.

The project works with citizens, public administrations, businesses and professionals, with particular attention to the tourism, hospitality and food sectors. Its programme includes awareness campaigns, practical workshops, technical advice, food-waste measurement and the development of measures to reduce waste.

The initiative also promotes the revaluation of surplus food where possible, including through recipes, donations and other methods of giving food a second use.

A new step for Eivissa

The Ayuntamiento's adhesion does not itself establish a quantified reduction in food waste. Instead, it creates a framework for the municipality to participate in awareness and prevention activities alongside the existing public and private partners.

For Eivissa, the next stage will be putting those commitments into practice through actions aimed at residents, businesses and the sectors that handle large quantities of food.

The agreement adds the island capital to a growing network of institutions and organisations working through Zero Food Waste to promote more responsible food consumption and reduce avoidable waste in Ibiza.