Food is a necessity of life and a precious resource. As over 90% of our food supply is currently imported, we need to play our part in reducing food waste to strengthen Singapore’s food security. Food wastage is increasingly an issue in resource-scarce Singapore. Let’s find out how serious HappyDotters are on Food Wastage in Singapore.
96.1% of the Singaporeans think that food waste is a serious problem in Singapore, while 1.2% say that it is not an issue.
Do you know that households are one of the largest generators of food waste? According to an NEA study in 2016-2017, 2.5kg of avoidable food waste were disposed by each household every week (sourced from towardszerowaste.gov website). Based on our poll, the types of food that are regularly thrown away are vegetables, bread and fruits.
In 2021, the total amount of food wasted was 817,000 tonnes (sourced from the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment website). This is equivalent to the weight of about 56,000 double-decker buses! The impact of food waste is huge. When food is wasted, it affects our food security as more food needs to be sourced to meet the food demand. To strengthen our food security, we need to play our part as individuals by reducing food wastage.
The most common ways that Singaporeans are doing to reduce food wastage are planning and buying only groceries they need, cooking just enough for the family and saving unfinished food for later meals.
Let’s start today and be mindful of food wastage by buying, ordering, and cooking what we can finish. Try adopting some of these habits, and you might be finding yourself saving more money unknowingly too!