A collection of short stories was published by the Nébih’s Without a Remnant program

Food waste is one of the most serious sustainability challenges today. Nearly 810 thousand tons of food waste are generated in Hungary every year, the largest part of which is produced in households. An average Hungarian throws 59.7 kilograms of food into the trash every year, 36% of which could be avoided, so it is pure waste. This is an amount that could provide a full meal for up to 380 thousand people for a year.

This is a problem that requires more attention and awareness, not more money, to solve. In this spirit, Nébih’s Maradék zelő program has been working since 2016 to ensure that consumers, especially young people, learn about the consequences of food waste and the possibilities for prevention. In order to creatively process the topic, the Falatnyi történetek: Tales without a Leftovers story-writing competition was announced this spring. The focus of the competition was for young people to show through tales how to consciously handle food and how we can prevent food waste in everyday life.

The most outstanding creators of the competition received their awards on October 16, 2025 in Budapest, at the Nébih II. District headquarters. The event also presented a volume compiled from the entries, which included the 20 best stories from the 125 competition entries.

The submitted tales were evaluated by a professional jury, whose members were Ildikó Bárány, content creator of the Mesevilághabbal Instagram page, story writer Erika Czirják, dr. Imre Nemes, president of Nébih, and staff of the Maradék külkül program. During the evaluation, originality, linguistic sophistication, creative use of fairy tale devices and the comprehensibility of the sustainability message were taken into account. The jury’s work was also supplemented by a public vote: interested parties could cast their votes for their favorite tales by liking them on the Maradék külkül Facebook page.

The award ceremony was hosted by dr. It was opened by Ferenc Helik, Deputy Chairman of Nébih, who emphasized: “Children’s stories prove that even the youngest generation is able to recognize: food is a value that we must treat responsibly. If we learn to appreciate food as a child, it can give us a lifelong perspective.”

The competition was one of the highlights of Maradék léző’s educational activities.
Eszter Börcsök-Csenki, Head of the Risk Prevention and Education Department of Nébih, emphasized: “The story writing competition is organically linked to Nébih’s Educational Program, which aims to ensure that children not only hear about responsible behavior against waste, but also get creatively involved in solving the problem.”

At the award ceremony, the winning authors of the three age groups (lower and upper grades, high school) received toy and book vouchers, as well as gift packages, and the most active school also received a prize.

The storybook containing the best works of the competition is available on the Without a Remnant website, and can be requested free of charge for schools at on the Nébih Educational Program interface. The Office’s staff is confident that the stories will reach many children, thus bringing the topic of food waste prevention even closer to young people.