In Their First Annual Awareness Dinner on Food Wastage
Beirut, Lebanon – October 2017: In line with world international organizations’ goals and in collaboration with Spinneys, Tawlet restaurant and international chef Hussein Hadid, ACT NGO (Active Advocacy of Communities for Tomorrow), celebrated World Food Day in their first annual awareness dinner on food wastage, on October 16th at Tawlet, Mar Mikhael, in the presence of representatives of Lebanese corporations from various fields, in addition to renowned public figures and media. The dinner was organized as part of the NGO’s “ACT 4 Food” activities, a project that raises awareness on the importance of reducing food wastage among all sectors and consumers, reusing and repurposing excess food, as well as proposing legal by-laws promoting incentives to reduce food wastage among relevant sectors.
Guests were delighted by the luscious dishes prepared by the talented chef Hussein Hadid, who used products collected from Spinneys, the supermarket that believed in the importance of ACT’s initiative and its positive impact both socially and economically, and is supporting it for almost two years, offering excess food to be distributed to 17 different charities from various Lebanese regions. Daily, each Spinneys branch provides ACT with 100-120 kg of fruits and vegetables, in addition to 5-10kg of bakery products that go to local charities.
Mrs. Paula Abdel Hak, founder and president of ACT NGO, said on this occasion: “As we believe that challenges are opportunities and that we can all be part of the solution as active citizens, our aim is to highlight the importance of building partnerships with all sectors in society, private and public, NGOs and charitable associations, for the sustainable development of our projects and the well- being of our community.”
Because every year, 30 percent of all the food the world produces is wasted and because food waste management is one of the most important focuses of ACT NGO, this gathering was a first step towards joining hands to achieve a positive impact on the social and environmental levels, hence, supporting Lebanon to attain the objectives set by international organizations to reduce food wastage to half by 2030.
“FOOD CAN BRING MANY TOGETHER, TOGETHER, WE CAN BRING FOOD TO MANY.”
About ACT
ACT’s mission is to promote the power of individuals to bring change through initiatives and projects having a positive impact on communities. We are a dedicated team who believes in the collective power of active citizenship and engagement in providing solutions to challenges. Our work focuses on action- targeted projects, promoting awareness and civic engagement and proposing supportive by-laws to achieve our objectives. We believe in building partnerships with all sectors constituting society for the welfare of individuals.
Our current projects are:
- Assisting municipalities in implementing an action – plan for collecting recyclable waste & sorting from the source, providing awareness sessions to communities & helping in creating representative civic committees working for the welfare of their communities.
- Initiating an E-Waste project & campaign involving collection, sorting & transportation of items, in addition to providing communal info sessions.
- Reducing food wastage by collecting & distributing unsold veggies & fruits and bakery products from supermarket sources to charities & economically-challenged families. Our focus is to promote awareness on the importance of the consequences of this issue, socially & environmentally.