The Ministers of Environment and Municipalities and Housing inaugurate the National Foundation for Food Preservation to reduce food waste and activate community participation.

Monday 08 June 2026
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His Excellency the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, and His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, inaugurated the National Foundation for Food Preservation, which works to reduce food waste in various regions of the Kingdom, in the presence of representatives of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Their Excellencies and Highnesses.

During his speech at the inauguration ceremony and the first meeting of the Board of Trustees, which was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Al-Haqil stressed the importance of preserving blessings and not wasting them, explaining that this is what our Islamic teachings urge us to do, and we hope that the foundation will contribute to being one of the reasons for the sustainability of blessings in this blessed country.

His Excellency pointed out that food waste and throwing away large quantities of food in the trash has a negative impact on food security, and also affects the economies and budgets of countries, revealing that the amount of waste in the Kingdom has reached about 40 billion riyals, which calls for the need to address it in several ways, the most important of which is activating the role of the third sector that is specialized in benefiting from this waste in a positive way.

The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing said: “Through this institution, we aim to create a sustainable legal entity to maximize community participation in solutions to reduce food waste. The institution’s role will be to support and guide the third sector to take on the tasks expected of it in the field of preserving blessings in the best possible way, by providing financial, knowledge, logistical and other support, by taking advantage of available expertise and successful global experiences.”

For his part, Engineer Al-Fadhli said: The Kingdom’s interest in the non-profit sector stems from its being a key partner to the government sector in community development, in accordance with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and what it included in terms of strategic goals to increase the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product. He stressed that the initiative to establish the Food Preservation Foundation comes as an important step within the framework of institutional work to support the charitable work of food preservation associations in the Kingdom, and in recognition of the importance of preserving food from loss and waste.

Al-Fadhli added that, in light of the National Transformation Programs’ directions, which seek to invest natural resources effectively and raise operational efficiency to reach ideal consumer behavior, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture adopted the “National Program to Reduce Food Loss and Waste” initiative, which will, God willing, contribute to spreading awareness, preserving the blessings that God has bestowed upon our dear homeland, and reducing loss and waste rates, in accordance with our Islamic values that call for reducing loss and extravagance and preserving the blessing of food.

The Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture pointed out that the existence of associations came as an appreciation of the blessing of waste and benefiting from the surplus of it and directing it to those who deserve it, in addition to the economic dimension through preserving the nation’s resources as well as the environment, as these associations carry out noble work through which they seek to promote directing the surplus of blessings and taking care of it and preparing it with high quality to deliver it to those who deserve it by benefiting from surplus food.

The National Foundation for Food Preservation is an independent entity and a non-profit civil arm that aims to contribute to empowering the role of the third sector in the gross domestic product and leading the sector in the field of food preservation to reduce food waste in the Kingdom in cooperation with relevant authorities in all sectors.

The list of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees includes His Excellency Professor Majid bin Abdullah Al-Haqil, His Excellency Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, the CEO of the General Authority for Food and Drug, Dr. Hisham bin Saad Al-Jadhey, His Excellency the Governor of the General Grain Corporation, Mr. Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Fares, His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Development for Social Development, Mr. Majid bin Abdulrahim Al-Ghanmi, the Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Food Bank, Abdul Latif Al-Rajhi, the Vice President of the Waste Collection and Recycling Company, Emad Al-Muhaidib, Adel Al-Khatib, and Ehab Al-Hashani.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia