Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Residents of Al-Aziziyah District have called on Jeddah Municipality to take measures to make use of waste food for the benefit the poor and needy. They asked the municipality to install separate containers for wasted food in the district, which has a large number of restaurants. Resident Thamer Al-Barqi said several other districts in Jeddah have separate containers for waste food so restaurants and members of the general public deposit their excess food in them. "We want to be more eco-friendly and preserve a healthy environment for us to live in. We have contacted a number of charities to cooperate with us and we would love it if food waste preservation turned into a local program that is ongoing and supervised by the municipality," said Al-Barqi. Hifz Al-Nima Association's Osamah Filali said he was very pleased by the initiative the people of Al-Aziziyah District have taken. "I am more than willing to cooperate with the municipality and other interested authorities to preserve and make better use of the food wasted by the tons on a daily basis, whether the source of the food is regular citizens or even ceremony halls and restaurants," said Filali. He added the association is currently operating on donations given by restaurants and the general public. "We welcome all kinds of donations: food, drinks, clothes and other items that could be of use to others. The association has never worked on a program of regulating public waste yet, but we are very open to the initiative," said Filali. He added the association takes care of packaging and distributing unwanted and donated items. "We cooperate with distribution companies and volunteers to make sure the donated items reach someone in need of them. We also work on raising awareness of the importance of recycling waste and making donations," said Filali. Jeddah Municipality spokesman said the municipality welcomed the suggestions submitted by the residents of Al-Aziziyah. "We have installed waste containers for food in eight districts in Jeddah as an experiment. We are pleased to hear that the experiment was effective and has been demanded in other districts. We are working on installing more containers in other districts as well as penalizing restaurants for not putting their surplus and untouched food in a separate container for the association to make use of," said the spokesman.
