Published: Fri. 27 May 2022 at 17:58
A Dubai startup is on a project to tackle the challenge of food waste in families and businesses while creating answers that will gain advantages for the local agricultural network in the UAE.
Co-founders Lara Hussein and Ceylon Uren told the Khaleej Times that they created The Waste Lab because of their frustration as a family who understood the importance of recycling but can find a simplified and consistent solution for kitchen food scraps.
“We understood the price of our food scraps and didn’t need to just throw them in the trash and end up in landfills,” said Lara Hussein, co-founder and CEO of The Waste Lab. “Also, living in an apartment, we didn’t have the opportunity to make fertilizer at home. This challenge has also been shared by many other families from the conversations and surveys we administer. »
“On the other hand, we found that we were wasting our soil at an alarming rate,” said Ceylan Uren, co-discoverer and co-founder of The Waste Lab. “Soil is our foundation and without it, we can’t grow nutritious food, it sequesters atmospheric carbon and simply sustains life. So why not create price from the food scraps we throw away, which care for and enrich our soils with the biological matter and ecosystem they desperately need? »
The Waste Lab is an impact- and data-driven startup that aims to turn each and every food scrap into an opportunity rather than a burden on our environment and society. It provides simple and custom-designed answers and rules for families and businesses, such as hotels. and restaurants, for the separation of food scraps and kitchen remains, their collection, as well as their composting and reuse on site or off site.
The start-up also tracks the data and gives effect to the reports and rewards of its partners. Currently, The Waste Lab has incorporated more than one hundred families in Dubai and has carried out several pilot projects.
“Our purpose is to create healthy compost and by-products that take advantage of our local soil, local farms, local food and local jobs,” Lara Hussein said. “We are addressing 4 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding sustainable cities and communities; Responsible intake and production; climate action; and life on earth.
The Waste Lab recently announced a partnership with Hilton that has committed to halving its food waste by 2030. Emma Banks, Vice President of F
“As part of Travel with Purpose, our ESG strategy to encourage guilt globally, we try to minimize the food waste that occurs in our kitchens and then send all the unavoidable waste into compost,” he explained. components such as the Waste Lab, and we hope to introduce composting in more hotels in the near future. Lately we are conducting pilot projects in several of our homes in the UAE. We also had the excitement of working with them to organize a 0 waste of suhoor at the Waldorf Astoria International Financial Center in Dubai this Ramadan.
“As a company, we recognize our fundamental duty to the environment,” he added. “We are pleased to actively participate in reducing food waste, in line with our Goals of Traveling with Purpose, and we hope others will be encouraged to follow suit. “
How the waste laboratory works
For corporations interested in the program, The Waste Lab begins with understanding the expectations, requirements, and area needed for a composting solution. This is followed by initial training to identify and quantify the other food flows.
“Based on the knowledge gathered, we formulated a tailor-made proposal that fits your needs, followed by a detailed integration and education procedure on how to separate food from the source, an on-site composting procedure for those who wish to compost in their area, or a collection procedure for those who prefer that we take care of their composting,” Hussein explained. “For households, we will offer monthly subscription packages based on the length of the family circle, plus lockers and the starter kit for collection and composting. leftover food. “
Currently, The Waste Lab operates in Dubai with expansion plans in Abu Dhabi and emirates.
“Our ambition is to offer a solution to each and every business and family to make sure no food is wasted, to work with local farms to use compost for their agricultural production, to work with agriculture agencies and R studios.
rohma@khaleejtimes. com