First Food Bank Launched in UAE

What better way to kick-start the Year of Giving initiative in the UAE other than by putting forth a plan to waste less food? Today, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, launched the UAE Food Bank in an effort to combat this problem.

 

Restaurants and hotels throw away lots of unconsumed food daily and the average person in the UAE generates around 2.7kg of food waste per day. In financial terms, it’s estimated that the UAE incures Dhs13 billion in food waste on a yearly basis.

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The Food Bank’s role will be to distribute otherwise wasted food to people in need, both locally and regionally. According to the Dubai Media Office, the non-profit organisation will work hand in hand with hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and food-manufacturing companies in order to create and implement a process of preserving, storing and packaging the food. This will serve as a way to optimise usage and eliminate waste.

The Food Bank will enlist volunteers to collect all the surplus food from the authorities and then distribute it to those in need. The ultimate goal of this organisation is to make Dubai the first place in the region to have zero food waste.

The Food Bank’s mechanism:

• The Food Bank’s partners will be implementing an "integrated mechanism for food preservation"
• Dubai will be the starting point, then it will eventually expand to other underdeveloped areas in the world
• Collecting, packaging, storying and distributing the food will be part of the operational support provided by the Dubai Municipality
• Volunteers will trained to help at the UAE Food Bank locations
• The organisation will recycle the leftovers of inedible food in any useful ways, such as for fertilisers or chemical/medical research

We’ll keep you updated once the locations of the Food Bank.