Monaco Meat-Free Day initiative as part of European Week of Waste Reduction November 16-24

Promoting sustainable resources & waste management

Several restaurants in Monaco have committed to adhere to Meat-Free Day, an initiative carried out by Carla Locchi, Naturopath, and Fanny Rigaud, Chinese Medicine practitioner, from the Monegasque Association of Naturopathy & Preventive Medicine.

Initiatives to reintroduce meat-free days are part of a campaign to reduce anthropogenic climate change and improve human health and animal welfare, by reducing factory farming and promoting vegetarianism or veganism.

The Principality joins forces with the EWWR, with other countries, through different actions, all equally important. This year’s theme is Waste education and communication, and we will be rallying support under the slogan Change your ways, Reduce your waste.

Please use #EWWR2019 and #ReduceYourWaste to spread the word on social media.

Meat-Free Day – Participating restaurants in the Principality

Several restaurants in the Principality have committed to avoid serving any kind of animal meat during one or several days from November 16-24, 2019, during the European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR) – the largest Europe-wide initiative promoting the implementation of awareness-rising actions about sustainable resource and waste management during a single week. Hopefully others will be encouraged to join in!

Livestock role in environment degradation

The unrestrained consumption of meat is a serious threat to the environment, requiring prompt corrective action. A day without meat for you does not seem much, for the planet it is already a big step forward.

Having a Meat-Free Day in restaurants, and also observed at home is not difficult to implement. This is already practiced in many countries, with the famous current “meatless Monday”. This is the beginning of a solution, in particular by creating awareness among the population, restaurateurs and consumers alike. Understanding the issues is the first step.

This is an opportunity to remember that it is not necessary to eat meat every day, while also avoiding food waste by reducing our meal portions, and carrying meal leftovers in “the little box” provided by most restaurants in the Principality.

Carla Locchi affirmed: “We have in common the place where we live, in this case Monaco, and planet Earth, and we agree that our health is closely tied to that of our planet. We want, at our small scale and with our own means, to make our modest contribution to the fight against the threats menacing our planet, and the life of each one of us”.

“This is why our Association has decided to engage in this fight improve our lifestyle – for humankind and for the Earth – through a highly symbolic action: The establishment of a day without meat in restaurants in Monaco,” explains Fanny Rigaud. “We know today that the sectors responsible for CO2 emissions in the world are first housing (30%), livestock (15.5%), closely followed by transportation (15%) and construction (13%). Global meat consumption has increased five-fold in the last 60 years.”

The quantity of water necessary to produce food is a fact to be taken into account as well. The numbers give a clear idea of what a kg of meat requires to finish on our plates. Pork comes at the top of the list with 10,300 liters of water per kg of meat; 7300 L/kg for beef versus 4100 L/kg for legumes and just a little more for cereals. In addition, this same livestock is the main source of water pollution by waste produced by animals, antibiotics, hormones and chemicals and other pesticides. The consequences are dramatic on the ecology and the entire ecosystem.

Reducing meat consumption also helps to decrease organic waste, pig and cattle waste and its impact on water. As published in the Water Pollution From Agriculture: A Global Review in 2017, the growing demands for industrial meat contributes to intensive agriculture which itself contributes to the degradation of water quality.