A whopping 3,000 tonnes of food is wasted in Malaysia daily — yes, our country; the food haven with food wastage to be ashamed of.
Especially so when, according to a Bernama report, most of the food wasted were still untouched and edible.
Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) director-general Datuk Dr Sharif Haron was quoted as saying that this statistic came from solid waste and public cleansing management service operator, SW Corporation.
Due to this, Sharif said the government has initiated a new programme called “Save Food Malaysia” (MYSaveFood) back in 2011, a campaign based off the SaveFood Campaign in Berlin, Germany.
According to Sharif, 350 institutions and organisations had joined the SaveFood campaign since 2011.
“Also to establish MYSaveFood network with the private sector, non-governmental organisations and consumer associations with the support from the ministry and local authorities,” he was quoted as saying.
That’s that. But, perhaps, we need not wait for a government initiated programme and shocking statistics such as this to alarm us — in Ampang last year, the “People’s Refrigerator” programme was launched.
As the name indicates, the refrigerator is where participating restaurants agree to pass on their excess food stock to underprivileged families in order to help with their needs, and to cut down on wastage.
One of the People’s Refrigerators had reportedly been planned for the Ampang Satay Station outlet; open every day except Wednesday.
