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Reducing food waste in the household sector depends a lot on educating the consumer and not on restraint, said the president of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), Horia Constantinescu, when asked what measures could be taken to reduce food waste in the household sector, which amounts to over 40%, according to the latest available data.
"I was a contemporary of the rationalization of the quotas of sugar, oil and what the party imagined before 1989, I think that if we were to go back to something that could prove useful, that you could not buy more than a number of kilos, so as not to throw them away, this is certainly up to consumer education and no restraint. I would not want to go back to the time of the sugar or oil or any of the food rations, although we must admit that at the time when the state and the party were offering us salami made from soy or with a lot of soy, it seemed to us that we were doing it very badly, or at this moment it seems that it is one of the most sought-after foods," said the ANPC president at an online debate organized by the Hundred Percent Romanian Association and the Consumer Tribune, on the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day.
He specified that, at the present time, there are no more actions in which young people are involved, in which recyclable materials are collected or other similar activities are carried out, so that they can understand that the environment must be respected.
"Unfortunately, trying to launch such a project in another area, not in Bucharest, I was told that it is very similar to the notion of patriotic work - it seemed to me that the homeland should be the soul and mind of each of us - which now seems like it should somehow be outlawed, just like the Communist Party was outlawed. It's totally wrong. Children need to socialize, children need to work, children need to understand that the environment must be respected. This they will get it, let's say, as a habit, only after they clean up, then they will probably understand not to litter," added Horia Constantinescu.
