The Mairie de Monaco acknowledged by the European Parliament for its eco-tourism view.
- M Abti
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
The Principality of Monaco has been promoting a sustainable luxury tourism approach for many years, including this key sector of the national economic ecosystem in the ambitious target of Country carbon neutrality by 2050, launched by the Energy Transition White Paper published in March 2017.
The Mairie de Monaco (Monaco City Hall) is directly involved in this project encouraging various initiatives to foster best practices to make tourism in Monaco more and more eco-responsible tourism. From the 26th to the 30th January 2026, the European Parliament in Brussels is being hosting the exhibition: 'Tourism for Europe,
Europe for Tourism', organised by the European Travel Commission, aiming at showcasing thirty-five effective hospitality practices able to respect natural ecosystems and local communities within the European Continent.
On this occasion, the Principality of Monaco was acknowledged in the Category "Nature" for the iconic project "La Petite Boîte", a unique doggy bag system to avoid food waste, developed in the network of exclusive restaurants belonging to the well established Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) on Monegasque territory, operating since 2016.
On the 26th and the 27th January 2026, Marjorie Crovetto, 2nd Deputy Mayor in charge of Living Environment, Environment and Sustainable Development at Mairie de Monaco, accompanied by Estelle Antognelli, head of RSE (Sustainable Tourism) unit within the Monaco Tourism Directorate and the Congresses, visited the exhibition in Brussels to highlighted the municipal engagement in sustainability, praised at the European level. H.E. Frédéric Labarrère, Ambassador of the Principality of Monaco to the Kingdom of Belgium, welcomed the Monaco's delegates while discussing on the win-win initiative inspired by the most pragmatic environmental values, and able to set a good example for other European administrations through benchmarking.
This small packaging met a strong success among customers due to its red-and-white design, with an increase in orders of 47% between 2017 and 2019, being strongly supported by the catering operators. In ten years, 15,000 boxes have been distributed and used, avoiding the same number of wasted dishes.
According to the 2025 Eurostat report, over 58 million tonnes of food waste (130 kg/inhabitant) are generated annually within the European Union - EU, while, worldwide, about a third of all food addressed to human consumption is lost or wasted, according to the FAO's Food Loss Index (2011).
In EU, more than half of the total food waste (53%) is produced in domestic consumption, the remaining 47% of food waste belongs to the supply chain, notably: 19% by food products and beverages manufacturing (24 kg per inhabitant); 11% by restaurants and food services (14 kg per inhabitant); 8% through retail and other food distribution (10 kg per inhabitant); and 10% in the primary production (12 kg per inhabitant).
Besides the financial loss, estimated up to 132 billion euros (market value), food waste raises major ethical and environmental problems, considering that over 42 million people cannot afford a quality meal every second day (Eurostat, 2023) and that producing food consumes natural resources. For this reason, the initiative promoted by the Mairie de Monaco is essential to help make our daily habits more eco-conscious. ***
✒️ Maurice Abbati
Strategic Communication Specialist, Editor in Chief, Journalist, Executive.
Lecturer and Author in English in the field of Environmental Communication to foster Circular and Blue Economy.
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