‘Save the Waste, Donate the Food’

Hard news piece written for 2019 Influence & Impact in Public Relations assignment.

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‘Save the Waste, Donate the Food’ movement to include businesses in tackling food wastage

It was made official yesterday the big plan that is put in store by The Singapore Food Bank in the coming weeks.

The Singapore Food Bank, first announced its partnership with non-governmental organisation, Zero Waste SG to carry out the ‘Save the Waste, Donate the Food’ movement to encourage more business organisations to be part of the food waste reduction, an issue that has plagued Singapore in recent years.

The announcement was revealed at a joint press conference between the two organisations yesterday evening. A huge collaborative rally will be held this coming weekend, the 9th and 10th February, 2019.

“We have partnered up with various other food charities to deliver our collective objective, which is to save the daily wasted food in the industry and distributing them to the needy,” said Nicholas Ng, the co-founder at The Food Bank Singapore.

Nicholas is no stranger to the concept of food bank. For several years, The Food Bank Singapore has been the centralised effort in highlighting the importance of food banking in Singapore. They have been the backbone of extensive efforts to salvage the food excess that remains at large in the attempt to reduce food wastage by donating the food to various committees and those who are food insecure.

Despite being embroiled in a health scare case two years earlier when one of their beneficiaries suffered from food contamination, it did not deter the organisation from doing more for the community.

“It is definitely a lesson learnt,” said Nicholas’ sister, Nichol. “Every lesson is an opportunity. It only drives us to improve and strive for the better.”

Speaking alongside the siblings, Mr Eugene Tay, the Executive Director from Zero Waste SG, added, “We have doubled our efforts for this movement to get more businesses to recognise that there is an issue with our food wastage.”

Between 2005 to 2015, Singapore wasted over 700,000 tonnes of food every year. Only a mere 15% or less of these were recycled. Fortunately, for the recycling efforts that have been carried out the past few years, there has been a significant reduction in food wastage. Tay said, “We still have a long way to go but there is a certain indication that these efforts are valuable to close the gap.”

Speaking enthusiastically on the upcoming rally this coming weekend, Ng stated that she is

anticipative over the turnout for the event. “This is probably the biggest event that we have took part in. The support from all organisations has been immense.”

It was also announced that the Minister of Environment and Water Resources will be present on Saturday’s rally.

Nicholas Ng concluded, “It feels great to get our effort recognised and I have faith that this

movement will bring about more fruitful collaborations that will not only help our cause in saving wasted food; it also helps the society, both the needy and otherwise, and by extension the environment in working to reduce food wastage across the world as a whole.”

More information on the ‘Save the Waste, Donate the Food’ movement can be found on https://www.foodbank.sg/.