Eat It or Save It - Beyond Food Waste

By optimizing supply chains and portion sizes, Paris 2024 has worked to minimize food waste, ensuring that leftovers were donated, composted, or used to produce renewable energy. This approach perfectly aligns with our goals at Goumbook to make sure no food goes to waste. By slashing food waste, we can cut global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10%, save water, reduce poverty, and support economic growth. The Paris Olympics is setting a new global standard for others to follow. #Goumbook #ChangingMindsets #EatItOrSaveIt #Paris2024 #FoodWasteReduction #Sustainability #ZeroWaste #CircularEconomy #ClimateAction #GreenOlympics #GoumbookGoals #SustainableFuture #FoodSecurity #WasteToEnergy #GlobalStandards #EcoFriendly #NoFoodWasted #EnvironmentalImpact Source: Paris Olympics 2024 & International Olympic Committee.

As global demand for water, food, and energy continues to rise, we face unprecedented challenges in managing these interconnected resources. Did you know: - Agriculture is the largest consumer of the world's freshwater resources - More than one-quarter of the energy used globally is expended on food production and supply - Water is used to produce most forms of energy (Source: United Nations Water) The pressure on this nexus threatens our progress towards sustainable development goals, particularly those related to addressing hunger and progressing on climate action. And when we waste food, we waste all the resources that went into its production and distribution. By focusing on reducing food waste, we can make a significant impact: - Conserve water and energy used in food production - Make more efficient use of agricultural resources - Free up water for other critical needs - Reduce energy consumption in food production and distribution As we face increasing pressure from population growth and rapid urbanisation, tackling food waste offers a practical approach to addressing these challenges with solutions. The road ahead is one of collective action. What steps are you taking to reduce food waste in your daily life or business operations? #Goumbook #changingmindsets #EatItorSaveIt #Sustainability #ClimateAction #CircularEconomy #FoodWaste

We're thrilled to announce that our Ramadan programme has been recognised with a certificate from the UAE Food Bank! This achievement however wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable support of our key partners and sponsors (Dentons Middle East Linklaters Visa Clyde & Co GMG ENGIE Solutions Middle East Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation Richemont Khazna Data Centers Alshaya Group HeroGo Reloop Emirates International School Ivy Secret Garden and Moriesh by K). This recognition underscores the powerful impact we can create when we unite as a community to combat food waste. By bringing together the public sector, private sector, and the broader community, we've demonstrated that collective action yields significant results. But our fight against food waste doesn't end with Ramadan. It's a year-round commitment: We continue to organize meal packing activities throughout the year. These serve as meaningful corporate team-building events. Our focus is raising awareness about the far-reaching implications of food waste and providing practical, everyday solutions to reduce food waste. Contact [email protected] to join us in reducing food waste. #Goumbook #changingmindsets #EatItorSaveIt #CorporateSocialResponsibility #Sustainability #ClimateAction #CircularEconomy #FoodWaste

Did you know that global food waste is equivalent to the weight of 2,900 Burj Khalifas (MOCCAE)? To put this in perspective, the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, weighs approximately 500,000 tonnes – around 500 million kilograms when empty. Multiply that by 2,900, and you get a sense of the colossal scale of food waste we are dealing with globally. This isn't just a number; it's a call to action. Food waste has severe environmental, economic, and social implications. We must take collective action to reduce food waste at every level, from individuals to businesses to governments. Let's innovate, educate, and collaborate to address this global problem with local solutions. Contact [email protected] to learn more about how you can contribute. #FoodWaste #Sustainability #ClimateAction #ZeroWaste #Goumbook #Changingmindsets #EatItorSaveIt

Food waste in our bins often becomes an out of site, out of mind problem, ending up in landfills where it decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) and produces a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2- called methane. Food waste alone is responsible for approximately 8% of global green house gas emissions, significantly exacerbating climate change as it accelerates global warming! Reducing food from being discarded as waste becomes not only about saving resources and improving food security, but also about progressing on climate action. Simple steps like planning meals, composting, and supporting food recovery programs can make a huge difference in curbing methane emissions. Contact [email protected] to learn more about our on-ground solutions for tackling the problem of food waste. Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), WWF, UNEP-WCMC #Sustainability #ClimateAction #FoodWaste #EatItorSaveIt #Goumbook #ChangingMindsets

It is crucial to address the problem of food waste by prioritising strategies to avoid food (meant for consumption) from exiting the food supply chain. Below is a breakdown on how to prioritise sustainable food use through consideration of the food use hierarchy (from highest to lowest priority): - Reduce Food Surplus: Implement proactive measures to prevent food waste from occurring in the first place. - Human Consumption: Rescue and redistribute surplus food to ensure it remains available within the food system (through the appropriate entities). - Animal Consumption: Repurpose surplus food as feed for animals and insects - Transform the unavoidable: Convert the unavoidable to uses outside the food system, such as uses in non-food industries, energy sources, or building soil through compost - diverting food from landfill. #Goumbook #EatItorSaveIt #Sustainability #ClimateAction #CircularEconomy #FoodWaste #FoodUseHierarchy #Changingmindsets

Breads, bakery items, fruits, and vegetables are the food items that are most wasted at the household level in the UAE, according to the National Household Food Waste Survey 2023 (ne'ma) Here are some actions to minimize food waste across these commonly wasted food items: - Planning your meals in advance is key: Make shopping lists and buy in smaller quantities only what you need for a specific period to avoid over-purchasing. - Checking your pantry and fridge often to keep track of what you have and what needs to be used soon. - Educating yourself about expiration dates and the difference between sell by, use by, and best before dates. They are not one and the same. For prolonging the life breads and bakery items, consider: - Storing them in a cool, dry place and using airtight containers to keep them fresh longer. - Freezing excess bread and bakery products if you know you won't consume them before they go stale. - Getting creative and using excess bread for croutons, bread pudding, or breadcrumbs. For prolonging the life of fruits and vegetables, consider: - Storing fruits and vegetables correctly and in the right conditions (some need refrigeration, others do better at room temperature). - Adpoting a first in, first out approach, where you rotate your produce and use older items first to ensure nothing goes bad before being used. - Preserving, pickling, freezing, or drying fruits and vegetables that are in excess. - Creating tasty soups, sauces, stocks and teas, and repurposing any leftover produce to create new meals or personal care products. Small actions go a long way! #endfoodwaste #sustainability #climateaction #eatitorsaveit #goumbook

Did you know? That meals made with ingredients wrapped in #plastic contain seven times more microplastics than those without plastic packaging? (University of Portsmouth). This highlights the significant role plastic packaging plays in microplastics entering our bodies. This #PlasticFreeJuly, we reaffirm our commitment to sustainability and rethinking plastic through our #EatItorSaveIt meal packing sessions, by: - Choosing raw, unpackaged, and nutritious fruits and vegetables over packed or preprocessed snacks wrapped in plastic or cling film. - Opting for infinitely recyclable aluminum water cans instead of plastic bottles, as a #zerowaste solution. - Avoiding plastic bags and opting for paper bags or cardboard boxes to hold food products. - Using foil containers instead of plastic containers, thereby reducing plastic waste. While plastic packaging has traditionally been linked with cleanliness and protection, new research prompts us to reconsider this narrative. Choosing to avoid plastic packaging and avoiding heating food in plastic containers helps reduce our exposure to these harmful particles and the chemicals that are then released. Let’s #rethinkplastic and embrace eco-friendly alternatives that benefit both the planet and our health. Contact [email protected] to learn more about our sustainable meal packing activities. #Sustainability #ZeroWaste #CircularEconomy #Goumbook #Changingmindsets

Did you know? About 40% of food is wasted annually, costing the UAE economy 6 billion AED a year (Behavioral Science Group). This waste happens mainly at the consumer level, especially in households and heightened by the the culture of takeaways and eating out in the UAE. According to the National Household Food Waste Survey 2023 (ne'ma): 57% of residents surveyed order takeaways more than once a week 38% over-order 53% take leftovers home Here are some easy to implement actions to address this challenge: · Mindful ordering: Pause before you order and choose only what you can finish. · Share dishes: Share dishes to prevent over-ordering. · Minimise portions: Ask for half-portions or smaller sizes when available. · Plan Ahead: Before ordering takeout, check your fridge to avoid duplicates. · Love your leftovers: Leftovers make a great next-day meal. If you are dining out, bring your own containers for any potential leftovers and take them home! · Save Money: Avoiding food waste is great for your pocket. It not only saves money on uneaten food but also potentially prevents additional charges when dining out, like the AED 50 food waste fee implemented by restaurants such as The Gulou Hotpot in Dubai, encouraging mindful consumption. Let's all do our part in reducing food waste. #Sustainability #ZeroWaste #ClimateAction #Goumbook #EatItorSaveIt

We were happy to engage with the amazing Emirates NBD team in a composting demo in collaboration with The Waste Lab - showing that composting at home can be accessible to everyone. This activity raises awareness about the benefits of composting and empowers individuals to start taking action to transform waste into value. You don’t even need a garden to start the process. Composting can be done in apartments using simple indoor bins and this natural fertiliser can then be added to the soil of household plants: adding nutrients, improving the structure and enhancing water retention of soil. On this World Environment Day, we are reminded of the vital role of composting in soil regeneration. Taking measures to compost food waste rather than sending it to landfill contributes to the reduction of methane emissions, to the circularity of food systems and to advancing food security objectives through building soil. #WorldEnvironmentDay #Composting #soilhealth #GenerationRestoration #Goumbook #EatItorSaveIt Vijay Bains Seema Shetty Hemant Julka