The UAE Food Bank has signed a cooperation agreement with Majid Al Futtaim and Replate, it has announced, which will see all food enterprises at Majid Al Futtaim’s trading centres donate surplus food suitable for human consumption.
This initiative aims to redirect food surplus towards workers and other beneficiaries, with the aim of further minimising food waste.
This partnership is the first of its kind in the UAE, and through distributing food donations and surplus food from participating food establishments situated at the Mall of the Emirates, it will serve as the inaugural experimental mall.
The teams at the Food Bank conducted training sessions for food establishments, offering necessary guidance at every stage of the food donation process.
This, they said, included instructions on collecting surplus and good food, ensuring proper packaging, facilitating appropriate transportation, and trading to donation refrigerators.
These activities were carried out under the supervision of health supervisors accredited by the Food Safety Department of each food institution operating within the Mall of the Emirates.
H.E. Dawoud Al Hajri, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said: “The partnership achieves several of the UAE’s national goals, beginning with the preservation of blessings and fostering community responsibility towards specific target groups. Its primary aim is to reduce the volume of good food residues and enhance societal awareness in reducing overall waste and loss of food. This aligns with our government’s vision of maintaining environmental resource sustainability and achieving food security principles, in line with the strategic global directions and objectives outlined in sustainable development initiatives.”
For his part, Fuad Mansoor Sharaf, Managing Director of Marketing Centers at Majid Al Futtaim Properties, said: “Our strategic partnership with the UAE Food Bank and Replate signifies the commencement of our journey towards achieving Majid Al Futtaim’s goal of achieving a net positive by 2040. In just two months, the ‘Feed the Future’ pilot initiative has saved over 2,000 meals (15 kg daily), conserving 2.28 million liters of water, and mitigating the emission of 2,050 kg of CO2. These outcomes underscore our unwavering commitment to creating a positive influence on the local community and the environment.”
Maen Mahfoud, Founder and CEO of Replate, commented: “There is a need for pioneering policies and government support for entrepreneurs to expand their work. This model helps in strengthening the cooperation between the social and environmental sectors, which will further help in achieving the impossible.”
Through this initiative, the Bank aims to expand its participant base in the future, promoting a culture of zero food waste and promoting healthy practices across all food establishments across Dubai’s malls and shopping centres.
In this initiative, Replate will gather data on daily quantities of donated food from food donation fridges and provide the UAE Food Bank with periodic reports, including daily, weekly, and monthly updates.
These reports will be submitted after analysing the amount of waste reduction from surplus food, measuring the rate of food waste reduction in conjunction with waste management practices, and assessing the environmental pollution reduction achieved through minimising carbon emissions from surplus food conversion and recycling.
Replate’s pilot study, which measured the public’s interest in food donations, found that during the initial phase, food donations reached 74 meals, while in May 2023, the number of donations increased to 1,210 per month.
This resulted in preserving a ton of food and 2,284,884 litres of water, as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions.