Last Minute Market
About this good practice
Difficult to recover food products with very tight deadline date but still edible (eg. dresh and very fresh food): creation of a Km 0 recovery system, creating direct contact between donor and beneficiary organisation, no intermediate steps with logistics and organisational criticality (eg. warehouse, storage, etc.)
• Lack of appropriate legislation to facilitate recoveries: LMM participates in several institutional working groups (Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, Ministries, etc.) in order to propose innovation also in legislative matters and push for innovative experiences from LMM can also result in new regulations towards zero waste (eg. Italian Law “No-Waste” 2007, etc.)
• Business Benefits: LMM has always been at the forefront in proposing to public institutions the applications of incentives, such as discount on waste tax in order to reward virtuous companies and encourage them to participate in recovery projects. For example in Ferrara in collaboration with the Hera (the waste collection company) and the Municipality, it is applied this discount. 2012 results: the 25 shops involved saved €20,865.09
Last Minute Market (LMM) is a Spin Off from the University of Bologna, founded in 1998 as a research initiatives. Today it is an entrepreneurial society working at Italian national level developing local projects aimed at the recovery of unsold goods (marketable or not) in favor of non-profit.
Expert opinion
The good practice is a positive example of an initiative addressing the need to reduce food wastage. Having started as a spin-off from the University of Bologna (Italy), the activities of Last Minute Market have expanded to other sectors. Collaboration with public authorities towards promoting zero-waste in legislation is another essential element of the initiative. The practice proved to be successful and can serve as an inspiring example for other regions interested in stimulating action towards more efficient use of resources.
Resources needed
8 employees
Evidence of success
Some examples of LMM projects and their impacts. NO-FOOD GOODS RECOVERY: the project “Change the final”, promoted by Hera,allows citizens to give a second life to large goods you no longer use (eg. furniture, appliances, etc.). In 2015 we recovered more than 700 tons of bulky goods in 5 provinces of Emilia-Romagna. PHARMACY RECOVERY: thanks to the project “Pharmaceutical friend” we recover still valid pharmaceutics purchased and not used by citizens and allocate them to organisations.
Potential for learning or transfer
The LMM favors the creation of a solidarity network in the territory that makes the relinquished good a relational value as well as socio-assistance. This also strengthens the educational value of this experience, which becomes replicable and imitable for innumerable product types.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Metropolitan City of Bologna