File picture used for representation
Doha: Intensifying its efforts further to curb the food waste, the Ministry of Municipality has launched a survey to develop a national food waste baseline in the country.
The Food Security Department at the Ministry in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) — West Asia Office, has implemented the first phase of the study, to establish a national food waste baseline in Qatar, with the aim of formulating appropriate policies and raising awareness on the food waste issue.
The National Food Waste Baseline provides a benchmark for measuring national performance in implementing activities to avoid and recover food waste, by establishing a consistent framework to quantify food waste generation and to track progress towards the target of halving food waste.
“During first phase (from February 28, 2022 to end of March 2022), food leftovers were collected and sorted at household levels within Doha Municipality, in coordination with the General Cleanliness Department and the Waste Recycling and Treatment Department,” the Ministry has tweeted. It said that the second phase of the study will start during the holy month of Ramadan.
The Ministry of Municipality in cooperation with the authorities concerned and its partners in private sector is making multiple approaches to curb food waste in the country.
Giving top priority to the issue of curbing food waste, a waste management programme was adopted under National Strategy of Food Security.
Under the programme, a highly efficient supply chain is being developed to transport foods from ports to warehouses and then to consumers in a way to reduce the chances of food waste.
The Ministry of Municipality in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a number of licences for establishing factories to process some food products. For example, low quality tomatoes, which are still fit for human consumption, are used to make sauce to prevent them from wastage.
The local market facilities have been developed into international standard which helped curb the wastage of food products. The Ministry also coordinated with all suppliers to ensure suitable storage facilities and advanced means of transportation to preserve the food items from wastage.
The Food Waste Department has been connected directly with services affairs sector of the Ministry for recycling the food waste and sorting out wastes from sources to ease the process.
According to UNEP, collecting data on national food waste generation turned out as a main driver to understand the scale of the problem, target hot spots, and assess policy actions. Several countries of the West Asia region need consistent support in setting food waste baselines to track national progress towards 2030 and to report on Sustainable Development Goal.
