If food wasting entails so many serve impacts and arises from so many different sources, how can we effectively mend these gaps to lower food waste, and why is it important for us to mend these gaps?
The Tragedy of the Commons (ToC) by Garret Hardin proposes that every individual acts on the motivation of self-interest and the pursuing of benefits derived from consuming natural resources from the common pool resource (CPR). With food as a basic need for survival, we continue to reap the benefits from the CPR of food without knowing, or considering it to be a pool of finite resources. As countries and cities become more affluent, more food is purchased but at the same time a vicious cycle is developed as more food is wasted at the same time.
Therefore, it is important to mend these cracks to ensure a lesser food waste problem that can be caused by the ToC. This can be achieved through 4 means that Hardin proposes: Governmental Laws, Education, Community Management effort and moral, religious and ethics appeal. These 4 ideas will be woven into possible solutions that can be undertaken to reduce the food wastage issue for Singapore to move towards a Zero Food Waste Nation.