/ A simple principle
The most valuable resource is the one that is never lost.
ICFG follows the internationally recognised logic of the food waste hierarchy: the highest value lies in preventing waste; recovery and recycling come next; disposal is the last resort.
In practice this means prevention is not one option among four. It is the first stage, and the other three exist to deal with what prevention cannot reach.
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01
Prevent
The first priority is to prevent food from becoming waste through better planning, purchasing, storage, preparation, portioning and operational practices. Prevention delivers the greatest environmental and economic return, because it saves every resource embedded in food.
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02
Recover
Where surplus cannot be avoided, safe and edible food should be redistributed to people first. Other forms of beneficial use are identified according to local conditions, regulations and food-safety requirements.
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03
Circulate
Unavoidable organic waste can be returned to productive cycles through locally appropriate solutions such as composting and anaerobic digestion, which produces biogas and digestate. Effective separation at source is the foundation of high-quality recovery.
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