’Planet versus plastic’ educational activities with EIT InformPack in Stawiguda

„Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (3Rs)” – these are the three principles that should accompany us every day if we want to take care of our planet.

As part of the InformPack project, implemented thanks to the EIT Food Knowledge and Innovation Community, Dr. Joanna Fotschki and Dr. Marta Kopcewicz conducted a series of workshops on responsible handling of food packaging. Pupils from the Polish Olympians Primary School Complex in Stawiguda were invited to take part in the workshops.

During the first meeting, which coincided with the first day of spring, the pupils had the opportunity to test their knowledge and deepen their environmental awareness. Through games, quizzes, and tasks, the students were introduced to the 3Rs principles (Refuse/Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), indicating how to correctly deal with food packaging.





International Earth Day was celebrated with students under the theme 'Planet versus Plastic’. Pupils from the school in Stawiguda, together with Dr. Marta Kopcewicz and Dr. Joanna Fotschki, visited Zakład Gospodarki Odpadami Komunalnymi Sp. z o.o. (ZGOK) in Olsztyn. During a trip to raise environmental awareness of waste management, the students learned about the technologies used at the Municipal Waste Disposal Plant in Olsztyn and reiterated the principles of waste segregation.





On 23 May, a final concluding workshop took place, in which students saw with their own eyes what happens when rubbish is thrown away incorrectly. They also had the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic skills by decorating ecological shopping bags. The eco-bags were intended as a reminder to handle food packaging correctly and were given an additional function – a gift – for the upcoming Mother’s Day.







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InformPack educational and culinary workshop

Raising consumer awareness and building the desirable attitudes needed to make conscious purchasing decisions – these are the goals of EIT Food „InformPack” education-culinary workshops at the Auchan hypermarket

The meeting was open to adults responsible for grocery shopping at their homes and young consumers who are still forming their shopping habits and will soon be responsible for shaping eating routines in their households.

During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to explore the need for food packaging and the problem of the amount of plastic packaging. Through interactive quizzes, they were able to test their knowledge of the symbols placed by manufacturers on food packaging. As part of the meeting, participants consolidated their knowledge on the principles of recycling.

As part of the InformPack activity, we implemented two tasks that involved applying the previously learnt knowledge in practice. Under the guidance of our scientists and educators – Dr. Joanna Fotschki and Dr. Marta Kopcewicz, participants were asked to do their shopping taking into account the newly gained insights on the packaging symbols. Then, during the cooking part at the Food Bank with Radek Lewandowski, they tried their hands in preparing healthy, plant-based dishes, including courgette spaghetti and pancakes with oyster mushrooms.










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InformPack during „Meatless Monday” culinary workshops

The “Meatless Monday” aims to encourage each of us to swap meat products for delicious plant-based products one day a week.

As part of the EIT Food „FoodEducators” project, high school students and their teachers took part in culinary workshops and prepared plant-based meals – beetroot burgers, tofu soup, power smoothie and zucchini spaghetti in tomato sauce. The meeting was also an opportunity to talk to young people about responsible consumer attitudes, including: in the context of conscious shopping behaviours, recycling food packaging and reducing food waste. Everyone took part in the InformPack „Recycle Hero” quiz and tested knowledge of how to handle food packaging in a sustainable way.






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Olsztyn Science and Arts Days – Workshop „Giving food packaging a second life”

We are very happy that you were with us on 22 September during the #21 Olsztyn Science and Arts Days. The workshop took place at the University of Warmia and Mazury Library, 12 B Oczapowskiego Street, where we prepared a stand of the EIT InformPack project.

Each participant was able to take part in an interactive game that helped to test how you manage to correctly segregate food packaging materials. Together, we tested how you could decipher the symbols on food packaging. We also encouraged you to share your opinion on how you would like information on the purchase, management and disposal of food packaging to be communicated to you. Your opinion is very valuable to us, as it will help researchers and food producers to develop 'tailor-made’ educational campaigns to support the development of environmental awareness.








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InformPack stand at AgroWARMA 2023 in Gryźliny

On 26 and 27 August, at the Gryźliny airport in Poland the AgroWARMA 2023 trade fair took place – the largest industry event in the region, attracting farmers, exhibitors and residents of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship interested in a healthy lifestyle and ecology.

EIT Food #InformPack stand took part in an interactive game on responsible consumer attitudes and food packaging recycling. We also provided hands-on activities on how to segregate packaging into different fractions. For the younger visitors, we set up an activity on how to paint reusable bags that they can use when they go shopping. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions and confront their concerns directly with scientists from our Institute.






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InformPack during the innovative workshop „SHOP&COOK” in Olsztyn

The participants of the „SHOP&COOK” workshop, which took place on June 28, 2023 in the Auchan hypermarket in Olsztyn, had the unique opportunity to test their knowledge of food packaging and its recycling. The two-day event was organized in cooperation with the Food Bank as part of the #SUCCESS project co-founded by European Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT Food. The aim of the workshop was to encourage consumers to increase the amount of plant-derived products in their diet and to raise issues related to reducing food waste. During the meeting, it was highlighted that in order to become a conscious consumer, we should recognize symbols on food packaging and know how and where we can dispose of it. The participants to „RECYCLE HERO” quiz also had the opportunity to ask questions to food packaging experts.

More information on the Food Bank in Olsztyn website.


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Lab workshops

As part of the EIT Food „InformPack” workshop, about 50 students from secondary schools in Olsztyn visited laboratories located in the Division of Food Sciences of the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Young adepts of science listened to a lecture on responsible handling of food packaging, delivered by Dr. Joanna Fotschki, and then took part in experiments prepared by researchers working on a daily basis at the Department of Biosensors and the Laboratory of Microbiology. There, they had the opportunity to look at the role of food packaging in ensuring the safety of food products. Students also took part in workshops and an interactive game, thanks to which they could check how they deal with proper segregation of food packaging.













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EIT Food InformPack at ScienceCom in Gdynia

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On November 18, you will meet our scientists at #ScienceCom, a cyclical event connecting the world of science with society, organized by the Experyment Science Center in Gdynia.

This year’s edition is devoted to the topics of sustainable development of cities and society as well as responsible consumption and production.

Researchers from our Institute, Dr. Joanna Fotschki, Dr. Marta Kopcewicz and Marzena Lenkiewicz, MSc., as part of the EIT Food InformPack project, will prepare workshops on a rational approach to purchasing, managing and disposing of food packaging. We will find out how we, consumers, can give them a second life and contribute to building a circular economy.

Details on the event page.

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Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research at the Olsztyn Green Festival 2022 [photo]

Thanks to EIT Food #InformPack, you tested your strength in the proper segregation of food packaging materials, deciphered the symbols placed by producers on packaging, and also learned about the original methods of waste processing.

In the EIT Food #FoodScienceClass zone, you moved to a science class where you detected the presence of starch in food, created molecular pearls and learned how to properly store food products.

Thanks to EIT Food #FarmingSimulator, you played the role of a modern farmer who uses technologies to run the farm in the most sustainable way possible, and by taking part in the quiz you learned the secrets of precision farming.














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Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research at the Olsztyn Green Festival 2022

On August 13 and 14, you will meet our scientists in the education zone at the Olsztyn Green Festival 2022. Workshops, shows, quizzes, competitions and interesting conversations with experts dealing with the issue of food safety and healthy eating are waiting for you.

As part of the EIT Food #InformPack project, you will be able to take part in workshops and an interactive game that will help you check how you deal with the proper segregation of food packaging. You will decipher the symbols placed by producers on packaging, look at creative methods of waste processing and design your own shopping bags. You will be able to share with us your opinion on the ways in which you would like to receive information on a rational approach to purchasing, management and disposal of food packaging. Your opinion is very important, because it will help scientists and food producers to develop „tailor-made” educational campaigns supporting the development of pro-ecological awareness.

The EITFood #FoodScienceClass zone also includes activities developed with scientists that will be of interest to all consumers attending the festival. First, we will play with some chemistry. We will learn what starch is and examine its presence in food products, as well as make molecular pearls ourselves. Next, we will take a closer look at nutrition and food, and learn how to properly store food products in the refrigerator – so that they are safe and useful for consumption as long as possible. We have prepared attractive gifts for engagement in our shows and experiments. The #FoodScienceClass project aims to interest the youngest in a scientific career, to show them that food research can be an interesting, developing and satisfying career path. It is also an excellent platform for sharing the knowledge gained from the project on sustainable consumer practices with family and peers.

The EITFood #Farming Simulator project has prepared a lot of festival attractions for you, including the opportunity to play the role of a farmer and try your hands at precision farming, a chance to win gifts in a competition on sustainable food production methods, and take a commemorative photo in… a tractor. The main attraction of this zone will be Farming Simulator – a simulation game created by the Swiss company Giants Software. It is one of the most advanced and popular simulators in the world that allows players to learn all the secrets of farming, including precision farming. „Precision Farming”, a free add-on to the Farming Simulator game, popularizes precision farming solutions that enable farming based on the collection and processing of various data, obtained, among others, from thanks to satellite technology.

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