The Dentsu Rise Up challenge calls upon Sri Lanka’s youth to address food wastage through creativity 

Chairperson Neela Marikkar

Chief Strategy Officer Sajith Weerasinghe

A whopping 725 tons of food is wasted in the Western Province every day in Sri Lanka. This is a worldwide issue and not just a local problem. Dentsu Grant Sri Lanka in line with Dentsu’s global initiative “The Rise Up Challenge”, is launching a unique competition to address the global issue of food wastage.

It is a creative and innovative challenge for youth between the ages of 17-27 to test their creativity to come up with innovative solutions to tackle this problem and win exciting gifts for their creativity in finding solutions.

 The Rise Up Challenge aims to reverse this alarming statistic at a critical time when our nation is battling a severe economic crisis that has rendered nutritious food out of the reach of many vulnerable communities, especially children.

Dentsu Grant Group Chairperson Neela Marikkar said: “As catalysts of change, our industry must accelerate the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive world through the influence we wield as leading communications experts.  The Global Rise Up Challenge aims to mobilise young people in Sri Lanka and around the world to get actively involved in shaping the world they live in. We are delighted to launch the Rise Up Challenge in Sri Lanka for the first time, bringing this opportunity to our youth to work on the theme –combating food waste –that is so crucial to our country right now”.

“We are hopeful that this meaningful campaign will bring about social change, as well as attract future talent to the industry, and to Dentsu, where we use creativity for the benefit of our society and our environment,” she added.

According to the UN Food Waste Index 2021, the per capita food waste in Sri Lanka is 76 kilograms annually. While expecting a food shortage, Sri Lanka’s total daily waste collection in the Western Province alone is 1300 tonnes, of which 725 tons is food waste mainly from households, restaurants and the meat and vegetable markets.

Combatting food waste in Sri Lanka could be tackled better with creative and innovative solutions which the Rise Up Challenge aims to achieve.

Dentsu Grant Group Chief Strategy officer Sajith Weerasinghe added: “We are culturally programmed to think of food as being ‘available in abundance’. This needs to change immediately. Our current relationship with food is not sustainable at all. When we see food, we do not see the resources and the effort that goes into it and the social and environmental consequences of wasting any food. The Western Province does not grow its own food. It’s cultivated elsewhere, using precious soil and water resources and transported to the Western Province only to have a large part of that wasted. Food waste is not a question of food security alone, as its closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming, depleting resources like water, soil labour and fertiliser.”

“We hope the participants of the Dentsu Rise Up Challenge will come forward with innovative and creative ideas to solve this national problem and in the process, also learn about the ill effects of food waste as well contributing towards reducing it,” he added.

The participants of the Rise Up Challenge could use their creativity to challenge and change wasteful food behaviours. Once the participants register through www.dentsuriseup.lk, they will undergo free workshops by international ‘Behavioural Change and Creative Experts’ followed by a comprehensive brief from a Food Waste Researcher.

Thereafter, the candidates can submit their concepts through www.dentsuriseup.lk to be evaluated by an eminent judging panel. The top 20 winners will be given attractive prizes such as laptops, iPads and other electronic devices at the final prize-giving event.