“[I]t’s rather disturbing that there is a distinct lack of awareness and nonchalance to food security issues” — Jose Raymond, Singapore Environment Council chief executive

While it is easier to look to the food providers as the main source of food waste, it is much more important to recognise that the individual responsibility and contribution to the problem. The lack of concern or awareness of the individual for food waste issues forms the underlying belief system from which influences one’s behaviours. In fact, the issues raised in the previous pages can easily be applied to you and me:

• The average person wastes 0.36kg of food a day, or the equivalent of a packet of nasi padang. This means you’re wasting 365 meals a year! Imagine all the delicious food that could have entered your stomach, or the brand new iPhone 6 Plus that you could have purchased with the money saved!
• Lack of proper knowledge can cause cosmetic filtering to occur at home, when “ugly” yet perfectly edible food items are perceived to be “spoilt” and end up in the rubbish bins. Such wastage also occurs when individuals misread best before dates or expiry dates on cans and other food products.
• Improper handling of food can also lead to early spoilage of food. This includes improper storage of leftover food items from meals. In fact, some families may not even have the habit of keeping leftovers for consumption at a later date.

In addition to the lack of public awareness about the food security issues, the rising consumer affluence, along with the growth of the food industry, has also changed consumer attitudes towards food.

According to Washington State University, Singapore ranks the second lowest in terms of global food expenditure by percentage, whereby the average household spends only about 8.1% of their annual income on food. In comparison with our neighbours, Indonesia (44%) and Thailand (24.9%), this means that food is highly affordable to Singapore residents.

Unfortunately, this affordability seems to have translated into a form of reckless spending and wasteful behaviours. Indeed, in the report Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources by the FAO, it has been found that downstream food wastage, i.e. wastage occurring at consumption level, is more inclined to occur in high income regions (31-39%) than in low income regions (4-16%). There seems to be an inclination of individuals to pile their plates with more food than they can consume at buffets, in order to get their money’s worth. Not only do individuals over-order or over-prepare food during meals, they are also more likely to choose not to finish the food if the taste is perceived to be ‘not up to par’.