What Can We Do To Help Reduce Food Wastage?

As food wastage is caused by multiple sources, an effective solution will require the cooperation of all who are involved. If everyone plays their part and carefully manage the amount of food harvested, processed, distributed, and eventually, purchased, the negative impacts associated with food wastage may finally be reduced and hopefully, eradicated.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) has created a Food Recovery Hierarchy in an attempt to reduce food waste, as shown above. The highest level (i.e. Source Reduction) is the most effective strategy in limiting the amount of food waste incurred, while the lower level (i.e. Landfill/Incineration) should only be used as a last resort.

In this section, most solutions will focus on the higher levels of the hierarchy. We will focus on how consumers like you and I, can play our part in reducing food wastage, which can significantly reduce the total amount of food wasted (as also discussed earlier). We will also discuss some approaches that the government, non-governmental organisations, and businesses in Singapore have undertaken to reduce this food wasting trend.