Alright, something definitely has to be done about this.
Penang is considered by many as the go-to food destination in Malaysia, which is why this recent statistic has raised concern among Malaysians.
According to the New Straits Times, Penang’s state government has estimated that an average of 700,000kg of food is wasted on a daily basis!
That’s not even the worst part, either! This estimated average reportedly makes up only 40 percent of the average 1,750 tonnes of garbage dumped at the Pulau Burung landfill every day.
The National Solid Waste Management Department statistics also backed up this fact, stating that the biggest contributor to solid waste is food waste, making up 3,000 tonnes on a daily basis.
Most of this food wastage is suspected to be from restaurants, hotels, and catering companies, specifically wedding and open house caterers.
This is because clients of these caterers reportedly expect huge portions of food, but end up not consuming most of it, thus contributing to the waste.
Source: The Hive Asia
As for restaurants, many of them have also suffered food wastage. The owner of Penang’s famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear restaurant, Sahubar Ali, shared with the daily,
“In the nasi kandar business, we have to cook many dishes daily to cater to our customers’ taste. We cannot avoid cooking some dishes as there may be customers who enjoy them.”
“The only thing we can do is to cook fewer unpopular items and make fresh batches of popular items as they are finishing.”
Source: Mr & Mrs Foodpacker
The owner of this famous restaurant estimates that they waste between 5kg to 10kg every day, and that’s not counting in the amount of uneaten food left on customers’ plates.
This is truly alarming, considering the fact that there are many homeless people who struggle to find food every day.
As everyday citizens, the best we can do is to try our best to minimise our food wastage by trying not to over-order at restaurants and making sure we buy only what we need!
Also read: TARC Student Reveals How He Happily Only Spends RM350 on Food Monthly
