REDUCE WASTAGE

We love food, especially in Malaysia – we want to indulge in its rich flavours and savour speciality dishes of our mixed cultures anytime, anywhere. We want to be the best hosts possible and enjoy moments of joy together with friends and family - be it at home or when eating out. But at the same time, our love and passion for food can cause us to over-prepare, over-order and over-consume – in short it often causes us to waste food. And while we do so, we don’t realise that our behaviour is negatively impacting nature.

In fact, here in Malaysia, households are the biggest contributor of food waste sent to our harmful landfills. It is estimated that the amount of food waste generated but could be avoided by Malaysians everyday could fill the Petronas Twin Towers in just 18 days. Try to imagine it next time you are in Kuala Lumpur and stand in front of the two towers.

Strikingly, we have wasted a whopping 15-20% more food during the festive seasons like Ramadan and Hari Raya in the past.1 During Ramadan alone, our combined food wastage has equaled 343 million packs of nasi lemak.2

Our lives were shaken last year when a global pandemic spread rapidly, so while we are adapting to new norms and find new ways of celebrating festivities in times apart to keep each other safe, rethink the way you prepare and consume food during holidays and on a daily basis. During this year’s Ramadan and Hari Raya, let’s start practicing to eat moderately and be more mindful of the amount (and portions) of food we plan to prepare, order, buy, and ultimately consume in order to reduce wastage.