On Monday 30 September 2024 at 13:30-18:00, partners of the ECOffee Consumers project (including Maria Tomai from UNU-MERIT / Maastricht University) will come together at the events space Qeske Maastricht to present their work to changemakers, innovators, the general public and other interested stakeholders.
The two-year project (ECOffee Consumers: Creating Conscious Coffee Consumers with Sustainable Habits for Enhancing the Sustainable Coffee Industry) is funded by the EU's Erasmus+ programme, and has been running since November 2022.
At this free public event, UNU-MERIT PhD fellow Maria Tomai will present alongside her project colleagues, who work at five different institutes and organisations around Europe. The programme of the event can be found below; anyone interested in the topic is very welcome to join but registration is required - please register here.
Programme
13:30 - 14:00: Walk-in time/registrations (cake & coffee)
14:00 - 15:15: Presentation on project deliverables - insights and solutions shaping a greener, more conscious coffee culture
15:15 - 15:30: Short coffee break
15:30 - 16:00: Presentation of the ECOffee Consumers' mobile application
16:00 - 17:00: Panel session and open discussion with the participants
17:00 onwards: Drinks reception
Location:
Qeske Maastricht (François de Veyestraat 8B, 6221 AB Maastricht, The Netherlands)
Registration:
The link to register your attendance at this event can be found here.
Background of the project and its aims
Nowadays, incredible political and social weight concentrates on the decrease of contamination emerging from industrial and agricultural activities and also from other human activities that produce large quantities of waste. Food waste is an increasing waste stream that needs to be managed with great concern and is attracting increasing attention due to its environmental, social and economic impacts.
Spent coffee grounds are an example of this, a rising risk in a magnitude of million of tons annually, which inevitably derive from the rapid increase of coffee consumption worldwide, and the lack of a solid waste management mechanism.
Objectives of the project:
- Training of coffee consumers towards sustainable habits and provide incentives to follow such profile. We will ensure the contribution of the project in upskilling pathways to the wider public individuals to have the capacity in following the basic circular economy principles in the coffee industry by choosing shops which manage sustainably their coffee waste.
- Enhance cafeteria owners and adult educators’ portfolio with a unique guide on how to train coffee consumers to obtain a sustainable consumption profile. We will develop an e-Guidebook so as to motivate and inspire the Ho.Re.Ca. owners (coffee producers) regarding the circular economy while working with them by developing an smartphone application to invite consumers to use the coffee shops participating in the network.
- Offer an easy and accessible educational material and methods in the form of OER and ready to use material for cafeteria owners, coffee shop employees and adult trainers. We will develop their knowledge skills and attributes related to the concept of circularity of coffee waste. A guide for trainers will accompany the video tutorials and be available on the project’s website. The video will be based on the needs of coffee consumers so as to improve essential skills, i.e. promotion of sustainable practices and green skills. All material will be free of access and ensure flexible learning of high quality based on the EQF standards.
This 'multiplier event' on 30 September 2024 is one of six such events to promote the project, its results and outcomes among all those who are interested in this topic and who wish to learn more.
Project partners and contact persons
Coordinator:
Tudás Alapítvány, Hódmezővásárhely (Hungary): János Palotás
Partners:
Strategic Omnia Research and Technology Development Ltd., Limassol (Cyprus): Anthi Gavriel
European Institute for Local Development, Thessaloniki (Greece): Apostolos A. Amprazis
TropicalAstral Lda., Quarteira (Portugal): Veronica Gelfgren
Maastricht University, Maastricht (Netherlands): Maria Tomai
Razvojna agencija Sotla, Šmarje pri Jelšah (Slovenia): Anita Čebular
