How Much Food Do You Waste In Singapore?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October. This year, we would like to remember World Food Day by spreading awareness and action on food waste reduction.

Together with Helpling, an online platform that connects you to cleaners, we have created this infographic to show you how much food we waste in Singapore.

Now that you understand how much food we waste in Singapore, the next step is for you to play a part in reducing food waste in your daily life and at home. Simply follow the 8 tips below and start reducing food waste!

1) Learn About Food Sources

Learn about where your food comes from and understand how farmers toil to produce your food. This would help you better appreciate the food you eat and thus waste less food.

2) Grow Your Own Food

Grow your own food in Singapore to better appreciate your food and waste less. This would also help to reduce the food wastage during transportation and storage, the resources spent, and carbon emissions generated from importing food.

3) Plan What To Buy

Before you go shopping for food, plan what to buy using a shopping list. This would help you avoid buying more food than you need.

4) Store And Handle Food Properly

Store and handle your food properly at home to help you keep food longer without spoilage, and thus reduce food wastage.

5) Cook And Order Just Enough

Choose the right food portions and cook just enough food. Also order just enough food, thus avoiding food waste and saving money.

6) Cook Your Leftover Food

Keep and cook your leftover food instead of throwing them away, thus helping to reduce food wastage at home.

7) Start Food Composting

Try composting your fruit and vegetable scraps at home or in the community garden, and produce compost for gardening.

8) Make Garbage Enzyme

Make garbage enzyme from your fruit and vegetable scraps, and use it for cleaning purposes.

Finally, sign the pledge to Save Food Cut Waste in Singapore, and share this post with your friends and encourage them to reduce food waste together!

Infographic credit: Helpling

Amount of food waste in Singapore hits record high [News]

By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 1 Jul 2013.

From the factory right down to the dining table, more food is being dumped in Singapore.

A new record was set for food wastage last year as 703,200 tonnes were generated – a 26 per cent spike from the 558,900 tonnes produced in 2007.

This far outpaced the 15.8 per cent growth in the local population over the same period.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that besides population growth, a rise in tourist arrivals and increasing affluence had contributed to the problem.

Mr Jose Raymond, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, said the “ease of accessibility to food and increased food variety” could also have worsened the wastage.

The problem has permeated every link of the supply chain. In a statement to The Straits Times, the NEA noted that food wastage “is being produced in homes, as well as food manufacturing and catering industries, foodcourts, restaurants, supermarkets and hawker centres”.

But the amount of food being recycled each year remains low.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: The Straits Times

Why waste so much if we love food? [News]

By Tom Benner, The Straits Times, 24 Mar 2013.

Singaporeans tossed out some 675 million kilos of food in 2011, according to the National Environment Agency, a vast amount that exposes the casual attitudes and habits of living in a food paradise and land of plenty.

This may seem surprising for Singapore, a small island that imports most of what is consumed. Singaporeans are second to none in their love of food, yet one routinely sees unfinished plates getting scraped into rubbish bins, from hawker centres to high-end restaurants and catered affairs.

It is not just a Singapore problem; it is a part of a global problem of growing proportions.

Food loss and food waste occur at alarming rates – about one-third of all the food produced for human consumption, some 1.3 billion tonnes of food worth around US$1 trillion (S$1.25 trillion) – is lost or wasted each year. At the same time, world food demand grows; about one billion people are undernourished globally.

Food loss typically happens in the way food is harvested, transported, processed and stored. One example: Staggering amounts of rice are lost to substandard farm storage facilities vulnerable to pest infestation and moisture.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: The Straits Times