Date of Award

Spring 2016

Access Restriction

Campus Access only Research Projects

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Systems Engineering

School or College

Seaver College of Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Bohdan W. Oppenheim

Abstract

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), an Islamic Arab state is guided by the Quran which is the Constitution of the Kingdom because it is the Word/Book of Allah consisting of Teaching known as the Sunnah that appeared through the Angel Gabriel to the Messenger Prophet Muhammed (13). The capital is Riyadh which comprises 29.9 million people, and Arabic is the national language. Riyadh has recently experienced an economic boom that resulted in the building of hospitals, schools, roads, businesses; even holy cities such as Mecca have seen the growth (8). Furthermore, King Khaled increased salaries of military officers, teachers, and hospital workers that has enabled many to spend without limits especially in the over production of food that is not eaten and goes to waste.

In Saudi Arabia 60% of the food is wasted because too much food is served out of some cultural obligation to be extra hospitable (4,15). Saudis are disposing 13 million tons of food annually, while the government pays $800 million to dispose of food in landfills and clean the cities. Even though Islam teaches people not to waste and to share with the needy, the practice is not taking hold because of the prevalent cultural idea that "more is better." Simultaneously Saudi's fear judgment when they practice cultural and religious feasts because "the guests might think that there is not enough food. It is more tragic when one considers that there are four million people below the poverty line; thus no food should be wasted because it can serve a greater need (4)." The end of the essay includes recommendations on how to diminish the excess waste of food that can both serve those hungry and alter cultural practices that lead to this high monetary cost of the waste.

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RayanMalki_Systems_Presentation_2016.pdf (15666 kB)
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