janeiro, 23 2026

By Carol Marcondes, from Brazil Without Waste

On Thursday morning (01/22), the first signatories and the network of supporters of the "Brazil Without Waste" program met in a face-to-face meeting. The initiative is the result of cooperation between WWF-Brazil and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) to promote collaboration between companies, governments, civil society organizations and academia in preventing and reducing food loss and waste in Brazil. The event brought together more than 30 leaders with a common goal: to understand how waste can be identified, analyzed and reduced, both by companies and the population.

Among the participants were representatives of signatory companies such as Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Grupo Accor, Carrefour, Assaí and Grupo Raízes, as well as entities such as Pacto Contra a Fome and Connecting Food — partners of the program. Supporters such as Sesc Mesa Brasil and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) also joined the group that, from now on, will form an organized and participatory structure for decision-making.

"From now on, this group will work to discuss food waste and the solutions that each one can adopt to reduce losses throughout the production chain, from planting to reaching the shelves. In addition, we will learn together how to bring this very relevant topic to people's homes and how we can encourage governments to make this an efficient public policy,” says Daniela Teston, Director of Corporate Relations at WWF-Brazil.

Among the topics addressed in this first meeting, we highlight the creation of committees: the strategic (to define directions and goals); the technical (to review decisions according to the rules of the program); and the communication committee (to ensure the alignment of messages). In addition, multi-sectoral working groups will be implemented throughout this year.

For "Brazil Without Waste", integrating this pact means promoting a shared cause using the strength of the signatory brands, in addition to deeply knowing the reality of waste in Brazil — going far beyond the companies' own segments of activity.

The pact also requires companies to diagnose their internal waste. Only then will it be possible to set reduction goals and monitor results. Among the reflections raised, one caught the participants' attention: how to include the final consumer in the chain of recognition and reduction of waste.

Currently, food waste occupies the equivalent of almost 30% of the world's agricultural land and generates 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the national scenario, data from IBGE and Embrapa indicate that a Brazilian family wastes, on average, more than 128 kilos of food per year.

"The meeting was very enlightening to understand how the project will work in practice. The program should help us engage even more on the subject, and I believe we started very well," said Andreza Ranieri, Accor Group Sustainability Manager.