What is the Food Waste situation in Singapore?

• Food waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore and the amount of
food waste generated has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years.
• In 2019, Singapore generated around 744 million kg of food waste.
• That is equivalent to 2 bowls of rice per person per day, or around 51,000 double decker
buses.

Why is this a problem?

• Food waste makes up about half of the average 1.5kg of waste
disposed of by each household in Singapore daily.
• More than half of household food waste can be prevented, with
rice, noodles and bread being the most commonly wasted food
items.

How bad is Food Waste to the Environment?

• 1 tonne of waste food on a landfill generates 4.2 tonne equivalent CO₂.
• If you dump 100 kg of waste food per day, you cause the creation of 420
kg per day or 153 tons per year equivalent of CO₂
What is avoidable food waste?
• Avoidable food waste refers to food items that
could have been consumed if better managed.

• Examples of avoidable food waste are leftovers

from a meal, expired food, stale food, and
blemished fruits and vegetables.

• Avoidable food waste can be prevented by taking

food wastage reduction actions such as buying,
ordering and cooking only what is
needed and adopting smart food storage and
preparation practices.

• Unavoidable food waste are parts/portions of food

which were not intended for consumption, such as
bones and egg shells.
 What happens when you waste food?

• When food is wasted, more food has to be sourced to meet the food
demand and this affects our food security since Singapore imports
over 90% of our food supply.

• More waste disposal facilities and landfills for incineration ash need to
build. This is not sustainable for land-scarce Singapore.

• Increase in resources used to grow and deliver the food to our tables,
as well as to dispose of it. These increases our carbon
footprint, contributing to global warming and
climate change.

• Need to minimise food wastage and recycle or treat unavoidable food

waste by avoiding food wastage and excess food production. Where
this is not possible, excess food should be re-distributed.

• Food waste should be segregated for

recycling and treatment.