An upcoming new law, the rising cost of farming and importing raw materials have made the efforts to reduce food waste pick up pace among food producers in Singapore.
The amount of food waste generated in Singapore has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years with food waste being one of the biggest waste streams in the Garden City. In 2019, the country generated around 744 million kg of food waste which is equivalent to 2 bowls of rice per person per day, or around 51,000 double decker buses.
Why is this a problem?
About half of the average 1.5kg of waste disposed of by each household in Singapore daily consists of food waste. Of this, more than half of household food waste can be prevented, with bread, rice and noodles being the most commonly wasted food items.
Avoidable food waste refers to food items that could have been consumed if better managed, examples being leftovers from a meal, stale food and blemished fruits and vegetables. Avoidable food waste can be prevented by taking food wastage reduction actions such as purchasing, ordering and cooking only what is required and adopting smart practices of food storage and preparation.
Conversely, unavoidable food waste are parts or portions of food which were not intended for consumption, such as egg shells and bones.
What happens when you waste food?
When food is wasted, more food has to be sourced to meet the food demand and this affects our food security since Singapore imports over 90% of our food supply.
Our resources are put pressure by an increasing amount of food waste and we will need to build more waste disposal facilities, such as waste-to-energy plants and landfills for incineration ash, which is not sustainable for land-scarce Singapore.
When food is wasted, so are all the resources used to grow and deliver the food to our tables, as well as to dispose of it, which increases our carbon footprint, contributing to climate change and global warming.
There is a need to minimise food wastage and recycle or treat unavoidable food waste so as to conserve precious resources which starts with avoiding food wastage and excess food production. excess food should be re-distributed where this is not possible, with food waste being segregated for recycling and treatment.
Some companies are forming new tie-ups to reuse one another’s edible food surplus, by-products and discards, and expanding their recycling capacities while others are investing in new methods to generate raw materials essential to industrial food production without producing more by-products that are thrown away.
