Problem Statement

In a world where people are dying every day of hunger, food wastage is, ironically, also a major problem (CÁNOVAS CREUS, Bernstad and Valle, 2015). It has been found out that Singapore is one of the countries with the biggest food wastage in the world with each household throwing away about 2.5kg of food every week (Zhang, 2017). Although there are many ways in which the food can be recycled, there seems to be minimal efforts that are actually being made in this direction.

The reasons for food wastage are many. Also, there are a number of hurdles in the way of recycling and reusing the waste food. Due to a number of factors, these recycling methods are not implemented properly which result to a continuous increase in the quantity of food thrown away every day and every year by people in total (Bernstad, Cánovas and Valle, 2017).

Food wastage has emerged as one of the biggest problems faced by the world in recent years. Especially in countries like Singapore, this problem is becoming bigger and bigger with each passing day. Daily food waste is from almost all sources, including households, restaurants, street hawkers and also from people who are buying and throwing the leftovers. However, no way has been found in which it can be calculated that what source produces the largest amount of food waste due to lack of empirical data and effective methods to get that data (Fligstein and Calder, 2015).

On a global level, it has been calculated that roughly 1.3 billion tons (one third) of total food produced in the world annually goes on waste. Moreover, about 9 million people in the whole world dies over lack of food or diseases related to hunger, which is more than the lives taken by malaria, tuberculosis and AIDs together (Patnaik, 2003). It has been calculated that if this food not properly disposed, it will become the third largest source of greenhouse gases emission in the world, after US and China (Dou et al. 2016).

 The table below shows the food data in Singapore in 2008, 2016, 2017 according to surveys conducted by National Environment Agency (NEA) and presented by Grandhi and Appaiah Singh (2016) and Secondi, Principato and Laureti (2015).

This data proves that even though the amount of food that is being recycled has increased, the total amount of food that is wasted has increased in much greater amount. In total, the amount of food that is wasted per year in Singapore alone has risen to about 40% in the last century.

Data on food wastage

Buying more than what is needed is one of the reasons for food wastage in Singapore. This has been seen as a major problem in developed countries where per capita income is high. People usually buy more food than they can consume in the time period that the food will stay fresh (Neff, Spiker and Truant, 2015).

An estimate reveals that almost 2 bowls of rice are thrown away by every household in Singapore. This does not include the amount of food that is wasted by commercial places like restaurants. The main cause of this has observed to be purchasing more than one can consume. A survey conducted by NEA reveals out of every 10 people living in Singapore have accepted that most of the food that is wasted is the food that has been bought and put in the refrigerator. This food is taken out only when it starts to get bad, which is when it is thrown away (Ahamed et al. 2016).

In another study, about one in every four families has revealed that almost half of the food that they prepare during every meal is not consumed because it is extra. This food is neither stored nor recycled but is, in most cases, thrown away.

The data collected on the food wastage patterns and their management methods employed by households in Singapore reveal that almost half of all the food that is bought by each household is thrown away every month (Iacovidou and Voulvoulis, 2018). Rice, noodles and bread make up for almost 43% of this amount, followed by food and vegetables which comes out to be about 37% of the total food that is wasted by people of Singapore.

The Global Harvest Initiative has revealed in one of its reports that by 2050, the population of the world will cross the 9 billion mark, which will be about 2 billion more people than the present year (Kropff and DeVries, 2016). To cater to the housing and lodging needs of this huge population, more and more agricultural lands will be converted to residential lands with huge building erected on them.

This means that there would be even less food produce in the coming years when there will be so many more mouths to feed (Eigenbrod and Gruda, 2015). Even if we manage to maintain the amount of food that we are producing right now, it is assumed that it will not be able to fulfill the food requirements of people in the coming times.

Key reasons of food wastage

It has been calculated that if the current rate of food production is maintained by East Asia, there will still not be enough food to feed the people dependent on that produce by 2030 (Herrero et al. 2017). As a result, more and more people are like to move to semi urban areas and adopt beef and pork as a part of their staple diet. It might be able to supply them with the nutritional needs of their body but will certainly put a lot of excess pressure on the food resources. By 2050, we might exhaust the beef and pork production of the world, in which case, there is likely to be a huge shift in the diet habits of people.

More and more people these days are adopting veganism as a way of living (Fischer, 2016). But what scares experts that in the coming years, veganism might become the only option available for us in the world (Hyland, 2017). With the continuous depletion of resources added with the voluminous food waste that is reported annually, the day may not be very far when food will become a scarce resource and more and more people will be either forced to die in a famine like situation or just accept to eat whatever is left on our planet.

It has been estimated that by 2050, most of the food habits of the people will be forced to change due to the scarcity of food that can be foreseen (Buzby, Farah-Wells and Hyman, 2014). In such a situation, more and more customized food might be made available for consumption of people. This means that there will be specialized food for women and men, which will be further classified into age groups and genome type of each human being and the gender, age group or work culture that they belong to (Shostak, 2014).

Some experts also think that the human beings of the future will be including more and more insects in their diet (Cox, Moore and Ladle, 2016). This could be possibly done to compensate for the shortage of meat that we might face in the coming years. The food that we will eat will all be processed in labs and will have specific directions for consuming like quantity, temperature or even combinations.

The only reason that experts can claim for this drastic change in the diet habits of people in general will be the shortage that we might face when it comes to food in the coming years (Sarafino and Smith,  2014). A calculation poses the threat that in the next 35 years, most of the food that we are consuming these days will be finished and the only way to avoid it is to control our habit of wasting food (Lee, 2017).

Food requirement of the coming years

Many organizations have taken up initiatives to work in the direction of solving the problem of food wastage in order to make the future of the planet food secure (Papargyropoulou et al. 2014). The idea of food recycling has also acquired prominence in the recent years in countries like Singapore. However, there are a number of challenges that are being faced by the people or organizations who are working in this direction.

Many individuals as well as organizations have taken up prominent steps in order to effectively reduce food wastage in Singapore (Pirani, and Arafat 2014). Some of the initiatives have proven to be really effective in dealing with this problem.

It has been seen that most of the initiatives that have been taken up by individuals, non-profit organizations or even governments to manage food wastage have not given out the results that they should have. Food is a very valuable resource and it is mandatory for human survival. Wasting even a single grain of food in a world where so many people do not get a square meal means that we are welcoming great disasters for the human race in times to come (Goh, Tan and Lai, 2015).

• The major reasons why the initiatives that have been taken up to manage food wastage are many:

There is a general lack of awareness among people when it comes to managing food wastage (Hebrok and Boks, 2017). Most people, especially those living in developed countries like Singapore and USA are not aware of the threats food wastage is posing and hence, they are not working in the direction of reducing this wastage, even if on an individual level.

Even if people are aware of the concept of food wastage and are inclined towards minimizing and managing their own food disposal, there are not enough resources that they have access to in order to do the same (Macdiarmid, Douglas and Campbell, 2016). Most of the surveys conducted on various levels have revealed that people do not know what can they do with the surplus food that they have and hence, they have to just throw it away.

The word is currently facing an acute shortage of infrastructure that is needed in order to manage and undertake proper food recycling (Postel, 2014). The process of collecting the food from the people who have a surplus of it and giving it to people who cannot afford it needs to be managed in a very effective way. This can only be accomplished by constructing an infrastructure that is employed only in this process. In the lack of such an infrastructure, it can prove to be very difficult to manage food wastage.

Food safety as a matter of concern

There are a number of small units that are undertaking the job of recycling food, especially in Singapore (Frasz et al. 2015). Most of these initiatives, however, have been taken up by individuals or small-scale non-profit organizations. The number of people who are actively managing the wastage of food is much smaller than the number of people who are needed if this job needs to be performed on the desired scale so that it can show some results. This shortage of workforce is a major reason that the management of food waste is still a huge problem.

Most people have accepted that they waste food but the reasons that they have provided for it seems reasonable (Baumeister, Bratslavsky and Muraven, 2018). It has been pointed out that the cost of recycling food is much higher than disposing it off. There is also much extra effort that people need to put in the process. Hence, most people just prefer throwing away the extra food that they have rather than recycling it.

The modern society works on a system that is governed by money. There are people in Singapore who have abundance of resources at their disposal and hence buying extra food is not a great matter of consideration for them. On the other hand, one out of every 10 people living in Singapore is not able to afford a square meal in a day. This wide social gap needs to be narrowed in order to ensure that minimum food is wasted (Pfeiffer, Ritter and Oestreicher, 2015).

When it comes to commercial units like hotels and restaurants, the competition in the market leads to voluminous food wastage (Bowie et al. 2016). It has been reported that most of the restaurants in Singapore serve between 40 to 60 dishes on an average. This means that most raw materials are purchased than needed, which leads to increased wastage.

• In a survey conducted on families about food wastage, it was found out that most people stack their refrigerators with food and dispose it off in a week or sometimes even in a month (Visschers, Wickli and Siegrist, 2016). This generates in them a feeling that they are not wasting a lot of food. However, if the wastage from these households is added up, it will be same as the wastage that a household will have that disposes off food every day.

In developed countries like Singapore, farmers have resources in abundance (Renzaho, 2017). As a result, these countries produce much more food that they can consume annually. In order to ensure more profit from their agricultural crops, farmers are also contributing to a lot of food wastage in such countries.

It is very important to understand that recycling food does not only mean using it to prepare edible food. Food waste can also be used to make other things like manure and cattle fodder (Clark and Tilman, 2017). However, this will require the help of technology which can provide machinery and infrastructure needed for the process. In the lack of this technology, it can become very difficult to manage food wastage.

• The problem of food wastage and the path to solving it might be difficult. However, there are a number of solutions that can be implemented to deal with this problem.

Challenges associated with food wastage and recycling

It might be very hard for individuals and small organizations to manage food wastage. However, as this topic concerns everyone, there could be some awareness campaigns that they can take up. The awareness campaigns can address the issue of food wastage and provide solutions to people that they can implement at various levels to reduce it (Hebrok and Boks, 2017).

The small efforts made by individuals and small groups are nor sufficient for the eradication of the problem of food wastage. However, they can join hands and work together more frequently in order to create awareness as well as manage the process of food recycling.

There are many ways in which food waste can be used (Thyberg and Tonjes, 2016). Governing authorities can help introduce the masses to some of these alternative ways which can be implemented on small as well as large scales to reduce food wastage to minimum.

The commercial units that sell food, like hawkers and restaurants can make effective changes in the way they serve food to their customers. For example, they can serve only seasonal dishes which will be much more nutritious and also save the food that is wasted in cold storages.

Supermarkets that sell food items can make changes in the way they sell food can help them cut down a lot of wastage. Instead of throwing away the food that does not match their quality standards but is good enough for consumption, they can sell it at a cheaper cost. It will ensure profits for them and also reduce food wastage to a great extent.

Most of the food that is left-over from a meal, either in a household or at a commercial or large scale eating place, is disposed as waste. This can be managed by preparing and serving small quantities. The initiative has been implemented by many schools in Singapore and has proven to be a success by far.

One of the main causes of food wastage is that farmers are producing much more than the consumption in most developed countries like Singapore. This excess production needs to be curbed by authorities or managed by producing the food that stays eatable for long in larger quantities.

Most of the excess food that goes waste can be redistributed or even resold. Individuals and organizations should collaborate to manage the wastage by donating and redistributing food items that are otherwise disposed-off.

Most food that is unfit for human consumption can be collected and sent to plants that convert waste into energy. However, it is the responsibility of governments to install such projects and encourage people to send their waste food to these kinds of establishments.

As a lot of food that is wasted is expected to be generated from households, this should be utilized for other purposes. For example, the food that is thrown away in dustbins can be instead converted to manure and hence could be recycled. The technical tools needed for these processes are already being used on smaller scale but technology can pave a way to convert it into large scale projects for the purpose of effective food waste management.

Technology can be implemented in a number of ways in order to ensure that food wastage is managed efficiently. Technical developments can provide a number of alternatives for using the food that is otherwise wasted.

These plants can separate food waste from other forms of waste products and can convert it into compost or water that can be used for non-potable purposes. Technical advancements can be made to provide cheaper ways of managing food waste in this way.

Such plants can segregate the food wastage in large quantities and digest it with water sludge. This could be then transferred to an off-site treatment plant where it can be used to produce bio gas.

These energy production units can break down all forms of waste into small particles using large crushers. This waste can be further utilized in the process of production of energy.    

Human psychology will greatly help in food waste management and applying methods of psychologically affecting people can prove very effective in managing food wastage at a ground level.

The theory of planned behavior states that human emotions can be managed in a way that individuals can change their habits. This can be utilized in food waste management by implementing ways that people start associating negative emotions with food wastage. This can force them to change their food purchase and consumption patterns and slowly inculcate the habit of reduced food wastage with them.

This approach can work on the idea that most human being tend to be in control of their own behavior. The idea is to incorporate a feeling in people that they are in control of the amount of food that is wasted in their household. This idea can be combined with the association of negative emotions to food wastage to ensure that it is reduced to minimum on the basic level.

while some people do not mind about the presence of rodents or keeping their environment clean, there are those that already understands composting and its benefits. People should be made to understand that compost contains the same waste that they generate only that it is disposed at a different location. When a person starts using new waste stream like that of putting it in a compost, they tend to ignore it at the beginning. Behaviors like these ones are the one known as ick factors and people should get over them. A simple behavioral change like constructing a small pail in the kitchen to dispose of the food-soiled papers and driving away vegetable remains into an organic bin outside can help.

When fighting against people filling the environment with trash, culture difference can be one of the hindering factors. Creating materials that are accepted in that culture will work well. Making the community aware of the right food waste prevention or recycling methods is the first step in this fight. However, it is important to know that it is the tendency of people to reject methods that are not in accordance with their culture. Therefore, as a way of leveraging human psychology one have to be culturally sensitive.

Primary and High schools can work in the direction of managing food wastage by educating and guiding students to reduce the amount of food waste that they generate by taking certain simple measures and incorporating some basic values into them that can prove effective in the long run.

Students could be provided session on why food security in important and how food wastage poses a threat to the environment as well as the future.

Students can be encouraged to design or participate in activities like taking up awareness campaigns where they can talk to people and help them understand the threat to food security in the light of present food wastage statistics.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this report that food wastage has become a major global threat. It is crucial to comprehend the consequences and apply the appropriate strategies to not only manage food waste but also to reduce it. This can be achieved by employing human psychology and generating awareness on a ground level among people to curb the problem of food wastage and its effective management.

References

Ahamed, A., Yin, K., Ng, B.J.H., Ren, F., Chang, V.C. and Wang, J.Y., 2016. Life cycle assessment of the present and proposed food waste management technologies from environmental and economic impact perspectives. Journal of Cleaner Production, 131, pp.607-614.

Baumeister, R.F., Bratslavsky, E. and Muraven, M., 2018. Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource?. In Self-Regulation and Self-Control(pp. 24-52). Routledge.

Bernstad, A.K., Cánovas, A. and Valle, R., 2017. Consideration of food wastage along the supply chain in lifecycle assessments: A mini-review based on the case of tomatoes. Waste Management & Research, 35(1), pp.29-39.

Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Routledge.

Buzby, J., Farah-Wells, H. and Hyman, J., 2014. The estimated amount, value, and calories of postharvest food losses at the retail and consumer levels in the United States.

CÁNOVAS CREUS, A.L.B.A., Bernstad, A. and Valle, R., 2015. Food wastage prevention: what are we really avoiding? an LCA-based approach.

Clark, M. and Tilman, D., 2017. Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice. Environmental Research Letters, 12(6), p.064016.

Clear, A.K., O’neill, K., Friday, A. and Hazas, M., 2016. Bearing an open “Pandora’s Box”: HCI for reconciling everyday food and sustainability. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 23(5), p.28.

Cox, C.B., Moore, P.D. and Ladle, R., 2016. Biogeography: an ecological and evolutionary approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Dou, Z., Ferguson, J.D., Galligan, D.T., Kelly, A.M., Finn, S.M. and Giegengack, R., 2016. Assessing US food wastage and opportunities for reduction. Global Food Security, 8, pp.19-26.

Eigenbrod, C. and Gruda, N., 2015. Urban vegetable for food security in cities. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 35(2), pp.483-498.

Fischer, B., 2016. Bugging the strict vegan. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 29(2), pp.255-263.

Fligstein, N. and Calder, R., 2015. Architecture of markets. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource, pp.1-14.

Frasz, D., Morris, H., Abbe, R., Mourad, M. and Rehberger, E., 2015. Food Rescue Services, Barriers, and Recommendations in Santa Clara County. Food Shift. https://www. sccgov. org/sites/rwr/rwrc/Documents/FoodShiftFinalReport. pdf.

Goh, Y.M., Tan, S. and Lai, K.C., 2015. Learning from the Bhopal disaster to improve process safety management in Singapore. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 97, pp.102-108.

Grandhi, B. and Appaiah Singh, J., 2016. What a waste! A study of food wastage behavior in Singapore. Journal of Food Products Marketing, 22(4), pp.471-485.

Hebrok, M. and Boks, C., 2017. Household food waste: Drivers and potential intervention points for design–An extensive review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 151, pp.380-392.

Hebrok, M. and Boks, C., 2017. Household food waste: Drivers and potential intervention points for design–An extensive review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 151, pp.380-392.

Herrero, M., Thornton, P.K., Power, B., Bogard, J.R., Remans, R., Fritz, S., Gerber, J.S., Nelson, G., See, L., Waha, K. and Watson, R.A., 2017. Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(1), pp.e33-e42.

Hyland, S., 2017. Plant power: Kelp is the new kale. Food Australia, 69(2), p.36.

Iacovidou, E. and Voulvoulis, N., 2018. A multi-criteria sustainability assessment framework: development and application in comparing two food waste management options using a UK region as a case study. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, pp.1-14.

Kropff, J. and DeVries, J.H., 2016. Continuous glucose monitoring, future products, and update on worldwide artificial pancreas projects. Diabetes technology & therapeutics, 18(S2), pp.S2-53.

Lee, R.B., 2017. What hunters do for a living, or, how to make out on scarce resources. In Man

Macdiarmid, J.I., Douglas, F. and Campbell, J., 2016. Eating like there’s no tomorrow: Public awareness of the environmental impact of food and reluctance to eat less meat as part of a sustainable diet. Appetite, 96, pp.487-493.

Neff, R.A., Spiker, M.L. and Truant, P.L., 2015. Wasted food: US consumers’ reported awareness, attitudes, and behaviors. PloS one, 10(6), p.e0127881.

Papargyropoulou, E., Lozano, R., Steinberger, J.K., Wright, N. and bin Ujang, Z., 2014the hunter(pp. 30-48). Routledge. The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste. Journal of Cleaner Production, 76, pp.106-115.

Patnaik, U. (2003). Food Stocks and Hunger: The Causes of Agrarian Distress. Social Scientist, 31(7/8), p.15.

Pfeiffer, S., Ritter, T. and Oestreicher, E., 2015. Food insecurity in German households: qualitative and quantitative data on coping, poverty consumerism and alimentary participation. Social Policy and Society, 14(3), pp.483-495.

Pirani, S.I. and Arafat, H.A., 2014. Solid waste management in the hospitality industry: A review. Journal of environmental management, 146, pp.320-336.

Porpino, G., Parente, J. and Wansink, B., 2015. Food waste paradox: antecedents of food disposal in low income households. International journal of consumer studies, 39(6), pp.619-629.

Postel, S., 2014. The last oasis: facing water scarcity. Routledge.

Renzaho, A.M., Kamara, J.K. and Toole, M., 2017. Biofuel production and its impact on food security in low and middle income countries: Implications for the post-2015 sustainable development goals. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 78, pp.503-516.

Sarafino, E.P. and Smith, T.W., 2014. Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. John Wiley & Sons.

Secondi, L., Principato, L. and Laureti, T., 2015. Household food waste behaviour in EU-27 countries: A multilevel analysis. Food Policy, 56, pp.25-40.

Shostak, M., 2014. Nisa: The life and words of a! Kung woman. Routledge.

Thyberg, K.L. and Tonjes, D.J., 2016. Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 106, pp.110-123.

Visschers, V.H., Wickli, N. and Siegrist, M., 2016. Sorting out food waste behaviour: A survey on the motivators and barriers of self-reported amounts of food waste in households. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, pp.66-78.

Zhang, L. (2017). 2.5kg of food a week wasted by each household, equal to half of all household waste: NEA study. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/25kg-of-food-a-week-wasted-by-each-household-equal-to-half-of-all-household-waste-nea [Accessed 7 Sep. 2018].