Recall the time not too long ago when people were stockpiling toilet paper and face mask?
That was a classic example of Tragedy of the Commons– individuals who have unrestricted access to shared-resource acting according to their of self-interest, contrary to the common good by depleting the shared resource. This term was first proposed by ecologist Garret Hardin in 1968.
Similar to stockpiling of toilet paper, food is also a common resource freely accessible us in retail (e.g. supermarket, wet market). When people have unrestricted access to food, it can contribute to food waste if they are not mindful of their purchase.
When each stakeholder sees the cost of disposing food as minute in terms of how their own food waste only contribute to a small portion of the landfill. If this mindset is adopted by everyone, there will not be enought space in the landfill to accommodate the food waste generated collectively. Furthermore, methane produced by each individual’s decomposing food waste, also add up to worsen global warming.