Although Ramadan is generally considered to be a month of self-restraint and doing without, it is often marked in Qatar and other Gulf countries with lavish hotel buffets and home dinner parties.

The result is that a quarter of all food prepared in Qatar during this month is wasted, according to EcoMena, an organization that tries to foster environmental awareness across the region.

In general, about half of the waste sitting in Qatar’s landfills is food, an EcoMena official told Doha News.

Qatar has long struggled to dispose of this and other types of waste in sustainable ways. The country currently only recycles less than 10 percent of its waste, though efforts are underway to increase that number.

Environmental activist say tackling Qatar’s food waste problem will require helping people to understand the damage caused by throwing out perfectly edible food, and improving institutional efforts to rescue this food and distribute it to those who need it.

Thoughts?