I don't think that I know that much about where our food waste actually goes to - how
it's disposed of.
Shan wants to find out how much food's wasted in his home country...
Singapore.
The biggest issue that my family has with regards to food waste is sometimes if we don't
check our fridge regularly there may be times when
some food gets expired.
I think if we know more about where our waste goes to, firstly, where our
food actually comes from. Those different aspects
along the supply chain and then where our food
waste actually goes to. I do think that having that
awareness would actually provide the impetus for Singaporeans, for
more Singaporeans to actually lead more sustainable lifestyles.
Singapore imports 90% of its food.
In 2019, the country generated 744,000 tonnes of food waste.
18% of this was recycled and the rest became landfill.
Singapore has only one landfill site on Semakau Island.
But it is running out of space and is due to be full before 2035.
Now Shan has the facts, he's meeting some of the people trying to address this issue.
Caroline is part of a team of food rescuers.
We will rescue food that is unwanted or it's blemished, or
it's very ugly and unsaleable.
We'll rescue all these foods and then we'll collate them before we distribute
to different points.
One of the points that you see is the fridge that we
have right now.
So it's meant for the community.
Whether it's low income, middle income. Anybody that is willing to
partake of the food rescue they can come and take.
How can individuals or households on a consumer level actually help
tackle, contribute to tackling this issue
of food waste in Singapore?
It's about making that life choice.You need to first
convince yourself that you want to do this and what are the reasons for doing it.
Is it for your health? Is it for Earth?
Is it to live a better life? To live longer?
You have to decide. And once you decide
that then you can start to think about the ways that will suit your lifestyle.
Do something worthwhile. Rescue.
Or do something you believe in and do it with passion.
Once we reach a point where we don't have anything
to rescue anymore, that will be the target aim.
Singapore has stated its aim to be a zero waste nation by 2030.
But how is it going to achieve this?
Shan is meeting Singaporean politician Louis Ng to find out.
700,000 tonnes of food that we wasted in 2019.
It's just too big a figure and I think if we break it down, share with people
that there are those that are going hungry in Singapore.
Going right to the root of the problem, which is making sure that people don't buy too much,
don't consume too much in the first place.
And that's the most important thing.
We can do a lot more in terms of reaching out to the public
and again a lot more in terms of legislation.
Make sure that the larger food wasters will segregate their food waste and process it
and for the new developments make sure they have on-site food
waste management systems.
I really have learnt so, so much and I really had my
eyes opened to just the sheer scale of food wastage within Singapore.
This has actually helped me to reflect a lot more on my own sustainable
practices at home or when I go out with my friends or with my family.
And at home I think one of the things we're trying to do more
is actually recycle and recycle consciously and these are things that in our households
we can do on an everyday basis.
And last but not least, to have that mindset, to have that passion for actually
contributing back to society.
I think that is a must have and I think that I myself, of course we are all trying
and it is all a process but I do hope that this
can serve as a symbol and serve as inspiration for young people and for everyone out there
to play their part and contribute as well as they can to tackling issues related to
sustainability for a better tomorrow and for a
better future for all of us.
Project 17 was made in partnership with The Open University.