The issue of food waste has proven to be a tough nut to crack, especially in Singapore. Our current food waste statistic stands at 790,000 kilograms in 2014. Unfortunately, a breakdown of this statistic was not given, leaving us in the dark about what factors contributed to this figure.
However, there is a glaring a lack of action: the food waste recycling rate in Singapore stands at a dismal 13% in 2015 and it has been languishing in this region since 2008.
Such stagnation has prompted NEA to launch a media campaign in early 2016. Most recently, a ‘Love Your Food @ Schools’ project was launched in 10 primary schools as part of the Youth for the Environment Day activities.
In tackling food waste, NEA adopts the following framework:
However, there is a glaring a lack of action: the food waste recycling rate in Singapore stands at a dismal 13% in 2015 and it has been languishing in this region since 2008.
Such stagnation has prompted NEA to launch a media campaign in early 2016. Most recently, a ‘Love Your Food @ Schools’ project was launched in 10 primary schools as part of the Youth for the Environment Day activities.
In tackling food waste, NEA adopts the following framework:
The first level largely involves distributing educational materials to households via flyers, brochures and the myriad of mass media outlets. These publicity methods focus on giving people tips on how to properly store food and reminders to reduce consumption. Another group of target audience in this level includes retail food establishments. A guidebook that suggests ways to handle and store food, methods to optimize their inventories and how to educate and train their stuff are given to them.
Several points for consideration:
- The guidebook is meant for reference, but how many people actually read them? How do we get people to read them, or are there other means of getting them informed?
- What other strategic adjacencies could we possibly create other than magnets at fridges, stickers at food stalls?
- How do we reduce the conflict of interest for strategic adjacencies such as reminders to consume less which could be against the profit-driven nature of businesses?
- How do we convince supermarket shoppers that ‘injured’ fruits are not any different other than cosmetic damages?
- Could predictive modelling prevent over-stocking of inventories or over-purchasing of ingredients in households? How do we convince people to adopt it? Could the manner of presentation aid adoption?
The second level involves redistribution of food that have been already produced/ cooked but not consumed. This is a particularly challenging aspect of food waste due to its high perishability. Organisations involved in this level include Food Bank Singapore, Food from the Heart and Willing Hearts. In recent years, several start-ups have been in the scene too, mostly in the areas of spreading news about discounts for such unconsumed food that restaurants are going.
Several points for consideration:
- Be inspired by what other countries are doing: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Gam_QOvC-3Y
- In Singapore, we have relatively fewer cases of people in need for food. But is it still viable to link up restaurants with extra food with these people? Research on areas in Singapore that needs food/funding for food, possibly charity organisations.
- How do we circumvent the issue of high perishability? Via what means can we get people to reach the place where the food is, or bring the food to them within the safe consumption period?
- How to convince food stall owners to donate their excess food (instead of throwing them away in fear of getting into trouble with authorities for food safety issues)?
The third level involves recycling the food waste that cannot be consumed. This includes food that have expired or those that are past the safe consumption period (for sales and catered food). Infrastructure is heavily involved here in retail food establishments: food waste treatment systems have been installed in several markets and food centres over the past few years. At the household level, composting is possible but the take-up rate is relatively low, possibly due to a lack of awareness or knowledge and misperceived perceptions of it being unhygienic and troublesome.
Several points for consideration:
- This area involves more technical aspects of recycling.
- How do we convince more households to adopt composting?
- How do we present the information in a clear and attractive manner? Could it be an activity for school children to pick up in science classes and bring it home?
The fourth level involves the recovery of energy from the food waste by incinerating them. This is the last resort that we want to avoid.
Several points for consideration:
- Could there be alternatives to incineration? Again, this might require technical knowledge/be an area of research.
In NTU
NTU aims to be the greenest campus in the world. One of the targets we have set to guide us towards achieving such a status is to reduce the intensity of waste production by 35% in 2020. In 2015, we have reduced our waste generation by 27%, showing that we are making good progress towards our goal. We must continue to do more to ensure that we reach our target. Last year, a qualitative study done by EcoCampus has highlighted that food waste makes up a large proportion of the waste produced in campus. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for us to prioritise the reduction of food waste.