- Title: From hotel kitchens to farms, Dubai transforms waste into compost
- Date: 30th May 2024
- Summary: DUBAI, UAE (MAY 24, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORKERS SORTING FOOD WASTE, THAT WAS GATHERED FROM HOTELS IN DUBAI AT RELOOP'S FACILITY, BEFORE SENDING IT TO COMPOST FACILITY VARIOUS OF WORKERS SENDING SORTED FOOD WASTE TO CONVEYOR BELT (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF RELOOP, YOUSSEF CHEHADE, SAYING: "If we look here at the farming industry, one of the main challenges is rich soil, and most of the soil and fertilisers in the country are, more than 90% of it, is imported from outside the country. While here we can produce rich compost and soil locally from food waste, and food waste is a very rich in nutrients that really, really enhance the soil structure we have. As you know, we live in a sand desert and we can really turn it into a rich environment to cultivate and to help the agricultural sector and defend and improve our food security for the country." VARIOUS OF CHEHADE SHOWCASING TO EXECUTIVE CHEF AT SOFITEL OBELIX HOTEL IN DUBAI, RUSSEL IMPIAZZI, THE HOTEL'S RECORDS OF FOOD WASTE DIVERSION IMPIAZZI DURING A DISCUSSION WITH CHEHADE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF RELOOP, YOUSSEF CHEHADE, SAYING: "As you can see from one of our major partners, Sofitel Obelisk under the Accor group, have been recycling their food waste since around three years. And so far, we've managed to divert around more than 250,000 kg of food waste from the landfills. And this amounts to almost 300,000 kg of CO2." VARIOUS OF WORKERS SORTING FOOD WASTE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF RELOOP, YOUSSEF CHEHADE, SAYING: "We have diverted more than a million kilograms of food waste from landfills. And that amounts to more than 1,200,000 kg of carbon emissions prevented from being emitted in the landfill. So far, we've had more than 100 hotels and restaurants and zero food waste journeys. And we've partnered with initiatives like the UAE food Bank and Ne'ma initiative to cut food waste and loss by 50% by 2030. So all of this is contributing and changing the mindset of our culture, to think about food in a different way and to protect the blessing of food and preserve it rather than throw it away." COMPOST SCREENING MACHINE AT TADWEER WASTE TREATMENT LLC - COMPOST FACILITY, WHERE RELOOP'S WASTE IS MIXED WITH OTHER LANDSCAPING WASTE, AND THEN GOES INTO ADDITIONAL SCREENING, AND A NATURAL COMPOSTING PROCESS PILE COMPOST THAT WAS SCREENED COMPOST SCREENING MACHINE PILES OF COMPOST VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER MIXING COMPOST MADE OUT OF FOOD WASTE AND LANDSCAPING WASTE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER OF RELOOP, YOUSSEF CHEHADE, SAYING: "Natural composting process can take from around 8 to 12 weeks to fully get processed. And, during the process, there's a lot of turning and using natural sunlight and heat to ensure that the process happens properly. And inside the piles that you see here, the natural organisms like worms and fungi aid in the process of composting to produce what we call brown gold that is very nutritious to be used to produce nutritious fruits and vegetables." PILE OF COMPOST VARIOUS OF PACKAGED COMPOST WORKER WATERING HERBS AT A LOCAL FARM IN HATTA, DUBAI RELOOP WORKERS OFFLOADING COMPOST BAGS AT THE FARM RELOOP WORKERS CARRYING COMPOST BAGS WORKER MIXING COMPOST VARIOUS OF WORKERS USING COMPOST AT THE FARM VARIOUS OF FARM OWNER, HAMAD KHALFAN AL-MUTAWA, DIRECTING WORKERS AS THEY APPLY COMPOST COMPOST BAG, READING IN English: "Compost - from food to food" WORKER MIXING COMPOST WITH SHOVEL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FARM OWNER, HAMAD KHALFAN AL-MUTAWA, SAYING: "One of the most important components in the food system is the presence of natural organic fertilizer. I also noticed that it does not smell (referring to the compost made out of food waste), and this is an additional feature to the existing compost today. It can also be produced in large quantities, which can be made available to farmers in the future, to provide a balance between the abundance of the fruits and vegetables production and making a sustainable and organic compost available to feed the plants." VARIOUS OF MUTAWA WATERING PLANTED SEEDS IN COMPOST MADE OUT OF FOOD WASTE GENERAL VIEW OF FARM
- Embargoed: 13th June 2024 09:07
- Keywords: COMPOST Dubai FOOD RELOOP UAE WASTE
- Location: Dubai, UAE
- City: Dubai, UAE
- Country: UAE
- Topics: Environment,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA002634429052024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: From Dubai’s hotel kitchens to local farms, a UAE-based company is gathering food waste and transforming it into compost in a country where growing food on sandy soils is a challenge.
Launched in 2021, Reloop, a circular economy digital platform, helps industries in the UAE to divert their food waste away from landfills.
“We have diverted more than a million kilograms of food waste from landfills. And that amounts to more than 1,200,000 kg of carbon emissions,” said co-founder of Reloop, Youssef Chehade, as workers sorted fruit and vegetable waste.
Chehade adds that more than 100 hotels and restaurants are contributing their food waste to Reloop so far.
After collection and sorting, the food waste is then taken to Tadweer Waste Treatment LLC - a government-certified group, that has a composting facility. Here the food waste is mixed with landscaping waste and screened. The mixture takes up to 12 weeks to complete its natural composting process to become what Chehade called 'brown gold’.
Finally, the packaged product makes its way to farms across the UAE, where it aids farmers by enriching their soil.
“One of the most important components in the food system is the presence of natural organic fertilizer,” said owner of a local farm in Dubai's Hatta region, Hamad Khalfan al-Mutawa, while using Reloop’s compost.
In 2023, the UAE announced an action plan to reduce food loss and waste in the country by 50 per cent by 2030 by creating new social norms, scaling best practices, and enabling policies across the entire food ecosystem.
(Production: Abir Al Ahmar) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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