A senior official of Dubai Municipality on Tuesday suggested restaurants could reduce the size of servings to cut food wastage in the UAE.
Dr. Essam Al Hashemi, Head of Food Studies, Dubai Municipality, told Tuesday’s EEG panel discussion that several solutions are available to help slash food wastage in the emirate.
Stronger expiry date regulations on food stuffs at grocery stores, limiting food portion sizes at eateries and increasing food leftover donations to charity from large public events could go a long way towards reducing waste, he said.
The municipality, he said, could “limit serving sizes [to] reduce the waste of food”.
In addition, Al Hashemi said “extra food can be sent to charity, it should be healthy and meet our requirements”.
He echoed calls for more public awareness campaigns, noting that “we have to inform the public that they can reduce the amount of food they are eating … they should only take the food that they require”.
Earlier this year, to combat a 33 per cent spike in food waste during Ramadan in Dubai, the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence launched a campaign to reduce the amount of discarded food which releases methane greenhouse gases when decomposing in landfills.
Dubai Carbon encouraged everyone to conserve food and reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible to reduce the daily waste stream from homes, hotels and restaurants.
Food-saving tips
• Plan meals ahead with shopping lists to avoid impulse buys to reduce waste
• Share leftover food with family, friends, neighbours or deliver excessive food to less fortunate people
• Home composting can potentially divert up to 150kg of food waste per household per year from local collection authorities. (GULF NEWS)