Reducing Food Waste

In the OIC Member Countries

COMCEC

required to better understand food waste generated by the poorer or less educated strata of

Egyptian society.

The six-member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia and UAE -stand out among the world's top generators of food waste. Most GCC

countries are unable to grow and rear all the food they need - this is due to a lack of arable land

and access to fresh water sources. As such, they depend heavily on imported food to meet

domestic food demands. The UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman import over 90% of their food and

rely heavily on desalination for their potable water needs (EAAD, 2014].

A review of residential solid waste (RSW] management in the occupied Palestinian Territory

(Al-Khatib and Arafat, 2010] concluded that the main component of RSW was food waste,

approximately 2,728 tonnes per day. In both the West Bank and Gaza Strip food waste accounted

for about 81% of RSW (see Table 16].

Table 16: Food waste as contribution of total Palestinian Territory residential solid waste

Region

Food waste

(%)

Palestinian Territory

81%

West Bank

78%

North ofWest Bank

74%

Middle ofWest Bank

76%

South ofWest Bank

88%

Gaza Strip

87%

Source: Al-Khatib andArafat (2010)

In 2014, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia carried out studies on food waste

in Kazakhstan (Shortan, 2014] and Tajikistan (Nabieva, 2014]. The studies aimed to identify

critical points and patterns of food waste along selected food supply chains. Food waste is

presented as percentages of food wasted at each stage. The results for consumption at the

household level are shown in Table 17.

Table 17: Household food waste in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, by food type

Kazakhstan

Tajikistan

Ctrtalc (wheat)

5-15% Ctrtalc (wheat)

2 %

Oilctthc anh pelctc (cenflowtr)

1-2% Roots &tebtrc (potatoes)

4 %

Roots &tebtrc (potatoes)

5-15% Vegetables (onionc)

4 %

Meat (bttf)

1-2% Mreit (hrith apricots)

0.1 %

Milk (cow’s milk)

1-5% Milk (cow’s milk)

2 %

Source: Shortan (2014) and Nabieva (2014)

In Kazakhstan, the highest wastes are wheat and potatoes. This is explained by these products

often having much lower prices and therefore less attention is given to the waste as a valued

product. In Tajikistan, potatoes and onions are the highest wasted products. The main reasons

being excess purchase; purchase of damaged, old or unusable produce; poor transportation and

storage and plate waste. For dairy products (milk], waste is minimal as it is consumed in smaller

quantities and is relatively expensive in relation to other food products. The most common

reason for milk that is wasted is improper storage or expiry of ‘use-by’ dates.

The impact of socio-economic and demographic factors effecting household food waste was the

focus for a study in Turkey. The study investigated food waste in the capital city, Ankara (Pekcan