FOOD WASTE: CHALENGGING TODAY TO CREATE

TOMORROW

ENV506

(INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT)

NAME: ADAM BIN MOHD NOR HAMIZI

MATRIC NUMBER: 2018458094

CLASS: NHSE4
INTRODUCTION

What is food waste? Food waste or food loss is a term that picture the food we thrown away
or out before finish it into the bin. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United State (FAO), food waste is refer to the decrease of food in subsequent stages of the
food supply chain intended for human consumption. Food is lost or wasted throughout the
supply chain, from initial production down to final household consumption.

According to Environmental Protection Agency (2016), In the United States itself, the amount
of food waste in 2013 reached 37 million tons, where only 5% of that amount (1.84 million
tons) was recovered, while the balance, 35 million tons of waste were sent to landfills and
incinerator. That means, 95% food waste was thrown in into the landside to treat or to fitin the
ground. This phenomenal is very sick to our environment

Fig. 1. Per capita food losses and waste, at consumption and pre-consumptions stages, in
different regions. Source: FAO, 2015

From Figure 1, we can see, production to retailing is more than consumer especially in Sub
Sahara Africa and South & Southern Asia. How our consumer can balance the production or
the food that sell at the market.
Citing another report by the European Commission, it is estimated that their 27- member states
generate approximately 89 million tons of food waste (European Parliament, 2012) Germany
on its own throws away 18 million tons of food every year (Brüggemann, 2016). Food waste is
considered is a new threat to our world because the very effective way how to handle it is still
under research and the current way to threat food waste is not compatible to the future
because the amount of food waste itself is increase.

We go to the neighbour country such as Indonesia. At Indonesia, according to the Economist

Intelligent Unit Indonesia on 2017, the situation of the food waste is the world's second largest
food waster, squandering nearly 300 kilograms of food per person each year. Indonesia
population now is around 260 billion people. We calculate it 260 billion people times 300
kilogram per year. How much food we waste and how they or we want to manage the waste.
We go to the north of our country, Thailand. Based on Notion 2017, Thais generated 27 million
tonnes of waste last year, and more than 60 per cent of it was foodstuffs. That fact is a terrible
shame, given the fact that one in eight people around the world suffer from malnutrition and
starving.
Singapore also have the same problem but they have a way or contingency plan how to handle
food waste in their country. The data from National Environment Agency of Singapore in 2018,
the amount of food waste generated in Singapore has increased by about 40 per cent over the
past 10 years and is expected to increase with our growing population and economic activity.
Besides the effort required to collect and dispose of it, food waste contaminates recyclables
and compromises recycling efforts. It may also encourage odour nuisance issues and vermin
proliferation if not managed properly. Same us they very concern about the side effect or
courses from increase in left over.

Discussion: Food Waste Situation in Malaysia

Malaysia is a melting pot of culture, with different races living harmoniously together. Naturally,
there would be a diverse ‘food culture’ as well. In Malaysia, we have Malay as a majority and
the main race in Malaysia, followed by Chinese, Indian and others. Malaysia also is knowing
for its great and greatest food. We are proud of the variety, diversity and tastiness of our food
and all things that we Malaysians are quick to brag and proud about. Unfortunately our unique
food culture is also turning into a culture of waste for food. Statistics and data from Solid Waste
Corporation of Malaysia (SWCorp) showed that in 2015 the food waste in Malaysia reached
15,000 tonnes daily, including 3,000 tonnes that was still fit for consumption and should not
have been discarded (The Star, 2016). The study and research also found that a household
of five spent an average of RM800 a month on food and that a quarter of that food was wasted
during preparation, cooking and usage. Literally about RM200 goes into the dustbin every
month, which amounted to RM2600 a year.

Fig. 2: A graphic picture tells about food waste consume. Source: The Star

The overall waste composition in Malaysia is dominated by municipal solid waste (MSW)
(64%), followed by industrial waste (25%), commercial waste (8%) and construction waste
(3%) (Moh and Abd Manaf, 2014). MSW generally consist of around 20 different categories
which are food waste, paper (mixed), cardboard, plastics (rigid, film and foam), textile, wood
waste, metals (ferrous or non-ferrous), diapers, newsprint, high grade and fine paper, fruit
waste, green waste, batteries, construction waste and glass; these categories can be grouped
into organic and inorganic. According to Dr. Nadzri Yahaya (2013), MSW in Malaysia consists
of 50% of food waste, and 70% as disposed at the landfill sites (Nadzri, 2013) and households
are the primary source of MSW in Malaysia.
Current Practise
According to Siti Wahidah (2017), currently, there are a few types of technologies applied in
the Malaysia waste management system. Fig. 3 presents the types of waste management
used and the percentage of waste disposed in different years.

Fig. 3: Method of waste disposal in Malaysia. Source: Agamuthu (2009)

From the Fig. 3 also we can see, in Malaysia we use mostly 80% landfill to dispose a waste.
Other method is still in study like composting and incineration. In European countries, only
those that cannot be recycled will be taken to the landfill. According to Ismail and Manaf (2013),
in many of developing Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India and
Indonesia, all types of wastes are disposed in landfills without any pre-treatment.

Fig. 4: Location of landfill in Penisular Malaysia

Key Challenges

The problem must be solve is at the source off waste. it begin at our home. How we manage
to handle the food waste. Education is very importing to and our citizen must expose with.
Attitude and mentality is still same. That is the main barrier or difference with other developer
country. Other than that, the technology also limited for our country to handle the waste. Built
modern incinerator just on the paper to accomplish other manifestos. After that, it not be
maintained very well.

According to Siti Wahidah (2017, Malaysia also participated in this initiative by establishing
MYSavefood network. The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute
(MARDI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA) are the
coordinators of the MYSavefood program, which promoted the reduction of food loss and
food waste in Malaysia. There are many stakeholders participated in this network as many
realized the importance of the initiative. Government also come out with many program to
handling this problem.

Conclusion
For the conclusion, we can see every day is the same. Leftover is everywhere. Food waste
generation in our country is relatively high and may become severe or massive problem in the
future. As food waste is biodegradable and recyclable, it is recommended that relevant
institution, agencies, company or authorities put more focus on developing food waste
reduction and recycling program. The current knowledge of food waste management, policies
and regulation in other countries could be used as preliminary model for in our country in the
process of the development of a successful food waste management system, moving from a
conventional food waste disposal model to a sustainable food waste management framework
(1Lim, W. J et al (2016)
Reference