Creta Maris Resort is famous for offering unparalleled hospitality, and for being innovative when it comes to sustainability. Being known as a spectacular resort on an island paradise sometimes obscures our dedication to preserving the ecosystems that make Crete such a unique touristic value in the first place. One shining example of our commitment is our leadership in being one of the first to take part in the “Food for Feed” (LIFE-F4F) project, which transforms food wastes from hotels into animal feed.
The programme is coordinated by Eniaios Syndesmos Diaheirishs Aporrimaton Kritis (United Association of Solid Waste Management in Crete) in partnership with the Harokopio University, the Technological Educational Institute of Crete, the Greece Freie Universität in Berlin, and the Agricultural University of Athens.
Some of the main purposes of the LIFE-F4F programme are:
• Transform food waste from hotels into animal feed
• Reduce waste food going to landfill
• Influence EU legislation on waste
This innovative project is based on time-tested methods in Europe for transforming food waste from kitchens and dining rooms, from catering facilities of hotels, and integrating the byproduct into a cohesive animal feed production process. Creta Maris Resort has helped pioneer this sustainable project on Crete, and now extends its efforts in the project F4F, aimed at the safe, economically viable, and environmentally friendly conversion of waste food from the resort into animal feed.
Today, all food waste from the Creta Maris Resort restaurants is separated by staff at the source and delivered to one of the “Food for Feed” (F4F) project facilities where it is processed through an innovative altered drying and pasteurizing methodology, based on the solar technology. This is a groundbreaking process that has not been tested or applied previously, either in Europe or elsewhere worldwide.
Although the resort was part of a pilot programme that ended October 31, 2018, this sustainable practice will continue at Creta Maris Resort, part of a solid philosophy and practice of sustainability that combines environmental education with leisure.
Recently Minister Socratis Famellos visited the F4F project and the Unit for the Pre-treatment of Waste Heraklion to observe the process and to meet with the President of the E.P.D.A.K. and city officials. After 144 days of testing, the minister was informed that the pilot program had produced successful results.
The 42-month project to establish the new program has a deadline 28 February 2020, and a total budget of €2.580.619,00 euro including a subsidy from the EU of €1.459.227,00 euros.
