SOS Philippines: Turning food waste into meals, in haste

MANILA, Philippines — Government estimates show that in 35 years, the country’s 115-million population will grow by around 30 million, which means the Philippines needs to feed 145 million people by 2055.

But even at present, the nation faces problems in food availability, including the handling of its food systems. One challenge that it struggles to address is the huge amount of food being wasted every single year.

The United Nations Environment Program estimates that Filipino households waste over 2.9 billion kilograms of food annually.

For rice alone, officials estimate that Filipinos waste two tablespoons of the staple a day. In a year? The total volume of rice wasted could be worth over P7 billion—enough to feed around 2.5 million Filipinos.

All of these happen in a country where 6.5 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, based on an international joint report led by key United Nations units.

The likes of Arthur Winston Bitagcol wants to change this bitter truth, one meal at a time.

A Flight to remember

Bitagcol has been working in the business process outsourcing industry for 20 years. But in 2022, little did he know his career would drastically change.

When a friend working in Thailand came home for a vacation, he asked Bitagcol to tour him around Marikina to see the famous pink murals that were put up in support of former vice president Leni Robredo.

They, of course, talked about the presidential elections.

“My friend asked me: what if she does not win?” Bitagcol recalled.

“I said to him, regardless of who wins, we need something like what you do in the Philippines.”

That friend was James Leyson, who was part of food rescue firm Scholars of Sustenance (SOS) founded in Bangkok, Thailand.

That conversion about politics was not just about politics. It led to the onboarding of Bitagcol to the Philippine unit of SOS.

Bitagcol was not convinced at first about how SOS works, most especially, its sustainability.
So  he took a week-long leave from his corporate job and flew to Bangkok to see it first-hand. That was in July 2022.

Enter SOS

SOS began with an epiphany of sorts by its founder and CEO Bo Holmgreen.

He was at the tail end of a buffet happy hour at a posh hotel when Holmgreen took notice of something: leftovers.

He wondered where all the unserved food would go as he noticed the restaurant staff bringing back the meals to the kitchen one dish after the other.

Out of curiosity, Holmgreen asked around. He got his answer. The leftovers would be, well, left behind. They would all be thrown away.

Holmgreen, who was in the information technology industry optimizing bank operations, thought that he could lend a hand to salvage the edible food that would be soon turned into scraps. Edible food that could save a growling stomach.

So in 2016, he started SOS, which began rescuing food in Bangkok, Thailand.

Since then, SOS has expanded its operations in key metropolitan areas of three Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The non-profit organization has four units in Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai), two in Indonesia (Bali and Jakarta) and Manila in the Philippines.

Employee No. 1

Three months after he flew to Bangkok, Thailand, Bitagcol found himself working full time for SOS Philippines as its director of operations.

He was employee number one. Employee number two was the unit’s first food rescue ambassador. Plus, one donated truck to rescue food.

SOS rescues both excess or surplus farm produce as well as quality, edible cooked food from restaurants and hotels that would otherwise go to waste.

They also accept manufactured goods such as canned sardines that would be considered rejects by the retail segment.

SOS provides training to the hotel or restaurant staff on proper handling and storing of excess cooked food that would be rescued.

The food to be rescued is stored in sanitized, dedicated storage provided by SOS to the establishments. It is kept in freezers or blast chillers to slow down the growth of pathogens until SOS arrives.

SOS would then pick them up directly from the hotel or restaurant. The assigned food rescue ambassador would check one by one the packed food to ensure that they do not have mold and other signs of spoilage.

All the food that would be rescued would be immediately delivered to the group’s partner communities. At this point, time is a critical factor. The faster they get to the community, the better. It would mean less risk of spoilage.

The community partner, in turn, would undertake the recooking of the food and turn it  into meals that would be distributed for free in their area.

For farm produce, SOS either gives the food to their community partners or to institutional partners like the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to be cooked into meals.

Today, SOS has community partners all over Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Pampanga.

Driving change

From October 2022 until June this year, SOS Philippines has rescued at least 500,000 kilograms of food, turning them into over two million meals.

Last year they targeted to serve 470,000 meals. They distributed at least a million.

This year, SOS Philippines aims to serve 2.2 million meals. They have already served 1.1 million so far this year.

“We are not even scratching the surface yet.” Bitagcol said.

“We want to actually pioneer food rescue in the Philippines and train other people to become food rescuers,” he added.

The common farm surpluses that SOS Philippines rescues are cabbage, tomato, chayote, squash, among others, during bumper harvests.

At the wholesale level, the most rescued food are green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and other greens that go into salads.

For cooked food, most rescued ones from hotels and restaurants are pastries and viands.

Multinational partners

The organization has partnered with big firms in the country such as the Gokongwei Group, Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc., Ford Philippines, Globe Group and Sofitel, among others.

But one of the most memorable partners they still have until today - and the very first one they had - is Hilton Manila. It was the same hotel chain in Bangkok where SOS founder Holmgreen thought of rescuing food.

The work that SOS Philippines does also helps its corporate partners attain their respective environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. SOS Philippines reports to their food and financial donors the equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide of the foods they rescue.

Since October 2022, the group has reduced 1.236 million kilograms of carbon dioxide.

“We tell our corporate partners that we are their strategic partners. Instead of spending to address their food wastage, they just have to partner with us and our services are free,” Bitagcol said.

“They hit two birds with one stone: they address their food waste and it contributes to their ESG,” he added.

Embracing the future

The truth bit Bitagcol hard: we waste a lot of food. Since his work at SOS Philippines, he has always remembered 10-8-1. Something that he also shares every time he gets the chance to.

Ten. The world produces food good for 10 billion people.

Eight. There are only eight billion people in the world.

One. One billion people die of hunger.

“It is not a supply issue. It is not a matter of having a lack of food. It is a distribution issue,” Bitagcol emphasized. “It is a realization that we are reminded of everyday.”

Today, SOS Philippines is pushing for a wider impact. For one, they are partnering with local government units (LGUs) to push for an enabling policy environment that would encourage everyone to reduce food waste and recognize food rescue as a viable mechanism in doing so.

The group also plans to help LGUs establish their respective food banks to have a wider scope and bigger magnitude in reducing food waste.

More so, SOS Philippines eyes to roll out a farm rescue program by establishing a food rescue station in La Trinidad, Benguet.

“We do not just want to stay in the Greater Manila Area. We want to go to the larger group of islands like Mindanao and Visayas,” Bitagcol said.

“We can never have enough food for the number of hungry Filipinos,” he added.