Singapore
The decrease was due to food waste reduction and donation initiatives, the supermarket chain says.
Under FairPrice’s Great Taste Less Waste initiative, fruits and vegetables are repackaged to make them more attractive to consumers. (Photo: TODAY/Wee Teck Hian)
SINGAPORE: Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice reduced its food wastage by a whopping 48,000kg last year, it said on Thursday (Apr 20).
In a news release, FairPrice said its food waste index, which measures total food waste per sqm of retail space, fell from 6.9kg/sqm in 2015 to 6.3kg/sqm in 2016. When it first launched its food waste reduction initiative in 2014, the index was 11.6kg/sqm.
The supermarket chain attributed the decrease to its food waste reduction and donation initiatives.
One of these, the Great Taste Less Waste Selection initiative, involves cutting fruits and vegetables that are not aesthetically appealing into smaller pieces and repackaging them at lower prices to make them more attractive to consumers.
Fruits and vegetables make up the bulk of food waste, amounting to about 60 per cent of all food waste, FairPrice said.
Under a partnership with non-profit organisation Food from the Heart, FairPrice has also donated more than S$290,000 worth of “unsold but still wholesome” canned food products to the needy.
It also donated S$150,000 to Food from the Heart’s Clean Plates campaign, which aims to encourage more than 10,000 primary school students not to waste food.
FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng said that food waste reduction remained a key priority in the retailer’s commitment towards sustainability.
“We are encouraged that the various initiatives we introduced to address this issue have gained traction over a short period of time with strong support from the community and our partners,” he added.
