Strategy 1: Prevent and reduce food wastage at source

The preferred way to manage food waste is to avoid wasting food at the onset. 

In 2014, National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) commissioned a survey to understand consumer behaviour and attitudes towards food wastage. Findings revealed that food gone out of date was the top reason for food wastage in households along with other reasons such as mouldy food and food that looked, smelled or tasted bad. More information on the consumer survey can be found here.

Following the findings from the consumer survey, National Environment Agency (NEA) launched an outreach programme in November 2015 to encourage the adoption of smart food purchase, storage and preparation habits that help consumers save money while reducing food wastage at source. Since its launch, NEA has further developed the programme to enhance and expand its initiatives.

The outreach programme features educational materials publicised on newspapers, television and through community-led initiatives, which included an educational skit, as well as a resource package for schools. To date, National Environment Agency (NEA) has collaborated with more than 40 premises, including supermarkets, food retail establishments, schools and other private organisations to display educational materials on their premises encouraging consumers to cherish and not waste food.

Below is a list of the collaterals which have been developed for the food wastage reduction outreach programme.

Everyone is encouraged to play an active role and to motivate friends and family to reduce food wastage at home. For easy-to-do and useful tips on how to reduce food wastage at home and when dining out, members of the public can download an online handy guide (Love Your Food – A Handy Guide to Reducing Food Wastage and Saving Money. The guide provides useful suggestions on meal planning, food storage, as well as recipes and innovative ideas on how to use leftover food to create tasty dishes.

In 2016,National Environment Agency (NEA) held a ‘Love Your Food’ Recipe Contest that encouraged the public to submit creative recipes that make use of common types of leftover food. The top four winners had their recipes developed into a video series, which can be viewed on the Clean & Green Singapore’s Facebook and YouTube platforms. The top 20 winners also had their recipes featured in the updated online handy guide. 

Strategy 2: Redistribute unsold/excess food

As part of NEA’s ongoing 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) outreach effort, NEA encourages both organisations and members of the public to donate their unsold and excess food to food distribution organisations.

Food manufacturers, food retail establishments and supermarkets can contact food distribution organisations to make arrangements for the donation of their unsold and excess food. For instance, unsold and/or excess food produce can be delivered to Food Bank Singapore or Food from the Heart where they are packed and distributed to needy households.

Members of the public can also play a part to reduce food waste by donating safe and edible food items which they no longer wish to consume. For example, they could drop off their excess non-perishable food items at various collection points. Shopping malls and offices may also wish to adopt a bank box to be placed at their premises to offer a convenient point for people to drop off their unwanted yet unopened and unexpired food items.

Strategy 3: Recycle/Treat food waste

Food waste that cannot be avoided should be recycled where possible. To support successful food waste recycling, food waste must be separated from non-food waste items, such as disposable cutlery, as they may disrupt the recycling process. Segregation of food waste is best done at the source (i.e. at the point of generation) as it is less efficient to separate it once it is mixed with general waste.

Currently, food waste that is recycled is mainly homogenous food waste from food manufacturers. These include spent yeast/grains from beer brewing, soya bean waste and bread waste, which are segregated at the source and sold to recyclers for conversion into animal feed.

Some households have started composting food waste, such as raw fruit and vegetable scraps, using worms or making their own composting bins at home.

For more strategies, visit this website: https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/waste-management/3r-programmes-and-resources/food-waste-management/food-waste-management-strategies.