The infographic above illustrates a key social problem that comes with food wastage – while the more affluent people can discard excess food into bins, the total amount collected can feed the poor at least 4 times over. Furthermore, a more recent statistic posted on 2015 UN Hunger Report revealed that there are about 795 million people suffering from hunger and malnutrition around the world; that is about one person out of every nine, and most of them, especially children, die.

As most of these food items are still edible upon the time of discard, this raises the question of the ethical value of wasting food. Although the numbers have fallen over the past decade, there are many who still live with extreme hunger today. This includes people living in the backyards of the rich, as hunger and malnutrition can also be found in developed countries such as the US and UK. Theoretically speaking, this phenomenon can be avoided if food was more evenly distributed between the rich and the poor, especially since the excess food that can feed the poor simply goes to waste and landfills. This further exacerbates the divide between the rich and the poor, resulting in serious social inequity that will have to be addressed by the government.

In Singapore, the saying “out of sight, out of mind” is very apt in describing the poor and hungry. Due to its modern appearance and fast-paced growth, we rarely associate the idea of poverty in Singapore. Furthermore, begging is illegal in Singapore, and a person found begging can be “liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.” Financial assistance awarded also are also limited in fear of developing an over-reliance of the poor on such aids. As such, many Singaporeans are unaware of the existence of the poorer population, even though they live among us.

Although there are no official statistic in Singapore, a Community Food Survey conducted by Food for All, an anti-hunger youth group back in 2009, found that about 12,000 households in Singapore relied on supplementary food rations that year, and the numbers were still increasing. For a country that is so used to prosperity and luxury, this was truly a shocking finding!

This social inequity will pose as a challenge for us and the future generations to overcome as it is easy to discuss about reducing food waste and redirecting excess food to the hungry, but the implementation phase is often difficult as it is commonly faced with many obstacles, such as policy regulations and health concerns.