Food waste is a major concern in Singapore, constituting one of the top five largest waste streams generated. 

Based on a recent study by Singapore Environmental Council, together with knowledge partner Deloitte Singapore, an estimated 393,000 tonnes of food loss occurs during upstream and midstream from imported foods and local farms even before reaching retail and consumers.

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Food Loss in Singapore

Out of these, 342,000 tonnes of food loss occurs in Singapore. Considering that Singapore imports most of its foods, more than 144,000 tonnes of food is lost when imported food lands in Singapore.

And for locally grown food, more than 5,000 tonnes of food is lost at production with close to 2,000 tonnes lost during post-harvest handling and storage. Vegetables and fruits top the list, making up 167,000 tonnes or 49 per cent while eggs accounted for the lowest at 5,500 tonnes or 1.6 per cent.

Said Isabella Huang-Loh, Chairman, Singapore Environmental Council, “Our study on food loss and food waste is totally aligned with and in support of the national agenda of Year Towards Zero Waste and “30 by 30” goal to locally produce 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030.”

She continued, “In Singapore, food waste is largely monitored at the post-consumer or downstream stage, with little awareness of the losses occurring at the upstream and midstream stage. When taken together, especially given that Singapore imports more than 90% of its food needs, the bigger picture points to an urgent need to address food loss and food waste now.”

Study Supported by Qualitative and Quantitative Information

The study is supported by qualitative and quantitative information gathered through comprehensive interviews with more than 30 key stakeholders in the local food supply chain, intensive research on literature focused on food loss and waste and a consumer study on food storage behaviour, purchasing patterns and food handling habits, covering over 1,000 respondents in all.

At the upstream stage, some of the key drivers of food loss were found to be poor disease and pest management, over importation of food items, fragmented cold chain management and inadequate infrastructure.

And at the consumer stage, more than 26,000 tonnes of unconsumed foods are thrown away from households annually due to improper storage, purchasing patterns and food handling habits.

Data was collected from 1,002 respondents through an online survey looking at food storage behaviours, purchasing patterns and food handling habits.

Households throwing away $6.57 million worth of food

And one of the key findings was that Singapore households throw away an estimated $6.57 million worth of food per week. This would amount to $258 per household per year from unconsumed food or $342 million for all households in Singapore annually.

There is much work to be done to get consumers to do their part in cutting down on food waste, with one third of respondents being surveyed indicating they generally would throw away 10 per cent or more of uncooked and unconsumed food items per week.

Said Jen Teo, Executive Director, Singapore Environmental Council, “Food loss and food waste is preventable. This is unsustainable if we are to do nothing to curb and manage the issue. We want our study to create value and wider conversations among multiple stakeholders on food loss and food waste to throw up possible solutions.”

She continued, “If we can collectively do this, we can harness value so that we rely less on food imports while reducing overall food loss and food waste.”