The students were one of the winning teams of the “Start-Up/Entrepreneurship Program for Youth” organised by the diplomatic mission last year. During a meeting at the embassy on 26 April, the students presented their simple but revolutionary idea to reduce food waste in developed countries, while increasing food supply in developing countries.

The embassy’s public affairs officer, Daniel M. Pattarini, said that he had a particular interest in this project, and praised the merits of the five year old youth entrepreneurship initiative. “For me, this is a really outstanding opportunity to recognise young people that we work with in our startup programme that looks to engage young people who have an interest in entrepreneurship and to build them as entrepreneurs,” he said.

Also attending the presentation were Wesley Jeffers from the US State Department in Washington, Pelagia Baxevani from the local startup support outfit Nyuko, and embassy officials.

Ben and Sarah, Beatcase’s 18 and 19 year old creators, along with the new recruit Nora, explained how they are aiming to change the social idea of take away food, commonly called a “doggy bag”. This idea came out of the startup programme, which last year focused on social entrepreneurship. “Food waste is something that always concerned me,” Sarah told Delano at the embassy.

The idea is simple: give a sticker to restaurant owners, for a symbolic amount between €100 and €300, and stick it on the front window of the restaurant. Then, people can identify which establishments let diners take home unfinished meals. And because the students are also concerned about the environment, they came up with the idea of selling biodegradable containers to the restaurants. But the group goes even further by collaborating with the NGO Care on its World Hunger project, by donating the symbolic fee to aid programmes in developing countries.

“People in Luxembourg probably feel ashamed to ask to take away, or they don’t think of it, or they don’t know [if] the restaurant offers this service or not,” explained Sarah. She added that during their project presentation in two communities, people were impressed because it is such a simple idea, but it could have a great impact.

Their meeting at the embassy came few days after Earth Day on 22 April, which encourages people to volunteer in green activities. An enthusiastic Pattarini promised to set up an event for next year’s Earth Day with the Beatcase team, if they have launched their project by then.

Hopeful and determined, the high school students aim to leave their footprint on Earth, and maybe earlier than expected, as Baxevani declared on Thursday, “this summer we will have something to launch.”