Burning issue: Food waste

What are the region’s hoteliers and restaurateurs doing to combat the issue of food waste, and do they need more support from the government? Caterer Middle East investigates

In a region, perhaps rightly or wrongly, known for its excess, F&B is not far behind. From extravagant brunches to large portions of food served on a regular basis, it is clear there is no shortage of things to eat. But the cost of this extravagance is that a lot of it goes to waste.

This issue is one that surfaces every year during Ramadan, in response to the gargantuan spreads put out during iftar events. But it goes beyond one month in the year, and is something that needs to be considered on a daily basis.

Waste management company Averda’s CEO Jeroen Vincent recently spoke at the third annual Arab Future Cities Summit, and said: “60% of solid waste in any given city, for instance, is food, which is full of valuable nutrients for the region’s soil.

We need to rethink this model and build a smarter system in our cities.” At the summit, he said municipalities are in sore need of re-thinking waste streams rather than bundling everything off to a landfill.

The first step for many cities in the region, according to Vincent, is to separate the volume of food waste collected. Next, it is essential for municipal governments to implement schemes to incentivise businesses to recycle their food waste and turn into fertiliser and renewable energy.

“There are profound benefits to incentivising stakeholders,” Vincent said at the summit.

“Along with generating clean electricity and fuel commodities such as ethanol and methane, waste can also kickstart new industries. By turning waste into fertilisers, we can encourage farming in a region where the soil lacks the nutrients and the ability to retain water. By producing organic fertiliser, we can avoid importing synthetic fertilisers, while reducing the cost of farming, and foster a new, sustainable industry in the Middle East.”

So, what are the region’s hoteliers and restaurateurs doing to combat the issue, not just at Ramadan, but throughout the year? Additionally, is it easy to do so, or is more support required on a governmental level?

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INITIATIVES IN PLACE
Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman GM Iftikhar Hamdani says handling food waste, such as discarded salads, is a tough job and challenging to dispose of correctly. He says: “Ramada Hotel & Suites Ajman was the first among hotels in the UAE to launch the Zero Landfill Project.

“All the hotel food waste, which averages 800-1000 kg a day, goes to the Zero Landfill’s room. Out of this, 60% is organic waste which directly goes to composter machine. The project recycles and reduces the hotel’s food waste, and the result of the composting process is used as food for our plants in the hotel’s 430m2 ‘Urban Farm’.”

Hamdani adds: “The Zero Landfill initiative is now in its second year and has achieved more than 90% waste diversion from the landfill.” Hamdani also reveals that the hotel has created a food control committee to monitor and work on reducing or disposing of excess food. He explains: “This committee conducted waste analysis and used this as a basis for further decision-making. Now, excess food is minimal.”

Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa executive chef and F&B manager David Miras says even simple measures taken can help with reducing the amount of food wasted and need not be a reactive measure. He explains: “Three years ago I changed the lunchtime offering from buffet to à la carte. This alone cut down on a lot of wastage as well as allowed us to provide much fresher options to our guests — so it was a win-win implementation.”

The Taste Initiative head chef Mark Taquet says his venue takes a holistic approach to reducing food waste, and attempts to reduce the amount of food sent to landfills in three stages.

He explains: “We attempt to minimise spoilage of food stocks. We order fresh produce supplies daily, based on a projected three-day shelf life of what is currently in our refrigerators. Then we use the ‘first in, first out’ principle of utilising stocks.

Additionally, we have consciously designed our menu to use as many common ingredients as possible. If a certain stock does not get used through one dish, it has many other opportunities to be utilised. Lastly, if we notice a glut of one type of produce that is expected to go off, whenever possible we make a soup or juice to use them up.”

The second stage is to deal with uneaten prepared food. Taquet says: “One of our biggest pet peeves in Dubai is massive portion sizes that end up going to waste. Over time, we have monitored our customers’ feedback and their leftovers to adjust our portion sizes.”

The final stage, according to Taquet, is landfill diversion. “There are some types of food waste that we end up with no matter what. We turn our carrot and turnip trimmings to crisps for garnish by boiling, straining, food processing and then dehydrating them. We use our onion, garlic and pepper ends and peels to make delicious veggie stock. For conferences and events, we package leftovers and ask organisers to share them with their employees or do so among our own employees.”

However, regardless of its approach, food waste is still inevitable. So, Taquet says, the venue uses an industrial dewatering machine which shreds and shrinks the volume of waste by roughly 80%.
Pantry Café vice-chairperson Yana Kalwani says the venue’s food waste goes into a pulveriser which means more waste goes into the same size container. “The converter is one of the ‘green technologies’ available today for waste treatment as it sharply reduces the demand on landfills,” she adds.

Taquet is all praise for local establishments working to combat waste. He cites: “There are several models that have been piloted in the hospitality industry in the UAE. Two notable examples are Al Qasr’s use of multiple Bokashi bins (fermentation) used in conjunction with its landscaping team, and Ramada Ajman’s composting machine and supporting its Urban Farm.”

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EXCESS FOOD — WHERE DOES IT GO?
With Ramada Ajman, whatever minimal waste is produced is dealt with in a humanitarian manner. Hamdani reveals: “The hotel has teamed up with Al Ihsan Charity Association, which helped us distribute packed meals created out of our restaurant’s excess food to limited income families in the neighbouring community. We started this initiative during Ramadan in 2013 and have continued with it recently.”

However, Al Maha resort does face certain challenges with reusing or giving away leftovers — HACCP needs to be considered and often means leftover food cannot be used for staff kitchens and the like. Miras says: “Due to our remote location we have not considered the possibility of giving away leftovers, although I understand Starwood does encourage this practice as part of social responsibilities. Composting was considered but the initial cost of implementation was prohibitively expensive.”

He adds: “Giving away to staff is the common sense thing to do, however HACCP prevents us from doing so as the criteria for health and safety is very strict; we do it where allowed.”

Kalwani agrees and says: “Unfortunately, in this region, the laws are very strict against allowing dispersion of leftover foods to any institutions. Luckily for us, our ordering procedures are so well controlled that we have very little food waste as most of our dishes are made to order; we are able to order fresh ingredients when necessary to top up our stock levels.”

Taquet says he does have hopes to further reduce food waste and recycle it. He says: “Our dream would be to invest in our own large scale composting machine, much like the one used at Ramada Ajman. Having an on-site (semi) permaculture garden where we can use the compost to grow our own vegetables and then make healthy, daily dishes from our own produce would be incredible.”

Kalwani agrees and says: “We would like to invest in a food compost system. However, currently we have put that on hold due to space and budget restraints.”

CHALLENGES AND SUPPORT NEEDED
So there are a few obstacles in the path of true sustainability in terms of food waste — hygiene and food safety, resources available, finances. Does the government support recycling and food waste as well?

The Dubai Municipality has firm regulations in place for excess food at events catering and buffets, with the organisation partnering with charities to ensure any salvaged food doesn't go to waste.

Dubai Municipality's food control department's food health inspection officer Mohammad Khaild Saeed told Caterer Middle East last year that the organisation had launched a campaign to collect excess food to distribute it to those in need in 2008.

The municipality partnered with local charities to reduce food wastage and help those who needed it. Three approved charities are allowed to collect excess food from events in specially-equipped vehicles — with hot-holding and freezing capabilities — to serve the needy.

Hamdani says he doesn’t think there are limiting factors in terms of being 100% sustainable. He adds: “The government supports us in this food sustainability.”

Taquet however, disagrees, and says there are certain obstacles in the path to being completely sustainable.

He says: “If we consider 100% sustainable in this case to mean zero food waste to landfill then the biggest limitation is the setup of supply chain, which sees wastage at every step. We need to take a macro look at the economics, supply and demand of the globalised food industry. Only when the right incentives and systems are in place to ensure every bit of produce gets used will we see positive change.”

Kalwani also admits there are limiting factors. She says: “I would say it is mostly resources. As worthy as CSR activities may be, they cost money. This is certainly true for an SME like Pantry Café where funds are limited.”

Miras has a few suggestions; he says: “I think there should be easier access to recycling facilities or some sort of governmental recycling initiative to help all hotels be a lot greener. Just as an example, we have been looking at possibilities to recycle all our glass, paper, and aluminium, and have only found companies that would charge us for these services. It should be free and promoted by the municipality.”

Kalwani adds: “One area where we would like to see a change is in allowing for distribution of leftover foods like they do in other countries. For example labour camps are an area that businesses could support. I believe that once this channel is opened there can be an organised set up for many companies in the F&B industry to be able to distribute their end day food wastages.”

Taquet concludes: “Food waste is definitely a resource for the UAE, we just need to view it in that perspective. We would love to see an Emirate-wide solution for diverting food waste from landfills.

Whether it’s a large scale composting facility or a waste water system to generate fertiliser and capture methane, the solutions that have been piloted in big cities across the world give us many solutions to choose from.”