Enormous quantities of food are thrown away every day. It happens in markets, restaurants and even at home. Food wastes in Singapore has increased by 40% over the past 10 years and it has been forecasted to increase in the future due to population growth and increasing economic activity. Statistics show that in 2017, our food wastage is at a peak of 809,800 tonnes, the highest it has been in the last decade (National Environment Agency, 2018).
Most people understand that wasting food is morally wrong, but what they are unaware of is that food wastage also bring about catastrophic environmental effects. Food waste is a considerable source of greenhouse gases, mostly in the form of methane which has a high “global warming potential”, 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide (Scottish Environment Protection Agency, n.d.). Statistics by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations show that if food wastage is considered a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, below China and the United states (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2016). Furthermore, the increasing rate of food wastage in Singapore can lead to land space issue for the country. Studies shows that if our food wastage continue to increase at its current rate over the years, Singapore would need a new incineration plant every 7 to 10 years, and even a landfill every 30 to 35 years (Food Bank, 2015). This will be a problem due to our scarce availability of land.
One of the major contributors to food wastage in Singapore are the households. A recent study by the National Environment Agency showed that approximately 2.5 kilograms of food waste is disposed by an average Singaporean household, which makes up half of the waste each household produces (Zhang, 2017). Furthermore, about a quarter of the households admits that there are usually left-overs after meals and that one in four household often threw expired or spoilt foods. The main reasons are that these households often buy more food than needed and some foods are left forgotten and untouched at the back of the refrigerator (National Environment Agency, 2017). Another large contributor to food wastage would be retailers, including supermarkets and wet markets. It is well known that these retailers often practise “cosmetic filtering”, where ‘ugly’ or less than perfect foods are thrown away, as consumers tend to choose the best-looking produce (Save Food Cut Waste, n.d.).
Despite the alarming amount of food waste Singapore produces, there have been efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the wastage. Currently, only 12 to 16 percent of food wastes can be recycled (National Environment Agency, 2018). Most of the food waste that Singapore recycles consists of mainly analogous food waste from food manufacturers. These include exhausted yeast and grains used for beer brewing, soya bean scraps and bread scraps, which are separated at the source and sold to recyclers to produce animal feed. Some Singaporean households have started to compost food waste doing their part in the effort to recycle food waste. In addition, several establishment owners/operators, including hotels, shopping malls and schools, have begun to sort out their food waste and use on-site food waste treatment systems to transform their food waste into compost or non-drinkable water (National Environment Agency, 2018). Furthermore, food wastes which are not recycled will be transported to “waste-to-energy” plants to be incinerated, and the heat generated will be used to generate electricity (National Environment Agency, 2018).
In conclusion, although Singapore has measures to manage food wastage, it is important to note that food wastage has both global and local consequences if not controlled. Hence, it is crucial that both consumers and producers open their eyes to these consequences and do their part in minimising their food wastage to lessen the detrimental global effect on the environment as well as minimising our risk of having to sacrifice our land for waste management purposes.