Capricorn Foundation Food Waste Challenge winner to be announced mid-October
The Capricorn Foundation has once again cemented its commitment to remain relevant within its communities by supporting and spearheading initiatives that are mutually impactful and sustainable.
The Capricorn Foundation Food Waste Challenge which was launched in July 2022 is an example of such an initiative, which called for innovative and sustainable solutions from the public, on reducing food waste in Namibia and resultantly promoting food security.
With 101 submissions under the categories of collection, distribution, and storage; the Foundation has confirmed that the winning solution will be announced on Monday, 17 October, aligning with the international community’s celebration of World Food Day.
“Entries are being taken through a two-stage judging process, first with an internal panel of judges to score the submissions against the set criteria and then an external judging panel that will judge the top ten entries to get to the winner. We aimed to get an external judging panel consisting of representatives with diverse backgrounds, but with the applicable knowledge to be in a good position to make a sound judgment on the submissions from all angles” said Rikus Grobler, Capricorn Group’s Manager of Innovation and Food Waste Challenge project coordinator.
Marlize Horn, Executive Officer of the Capricorn Foundation emphasized that the idea of the competition was not only to find new opportunities or solutions to address food waste in Namibia but to also create more awareness around the issue. “Addressing such a national issue of this complexity starts with awareness and then applying collaborative thinking around ways to solve this issue. With the wide interest that we have received through the submissions, from Noordoewer and Katima Mulilo to Kenya and Portugal, we are happy that the challenge could create a conversation and spark ideas around possible solutions,” she added.
“It was interesting to see how diverse people’s creativity can be, we received submissions that involved technical solutions, recycling of food waste to make fertilizer or animal feed, and some that spoke to renewable energy. The top three ideas will be presented at the announcement event, taking place on Monday 17 October in celebration of World Food Day, which is annually observed on 16 October. The winning solution will receive N$ 100,000” Grobler concluded.
