Over 800,000kg of food waste saved in Penang during pandemic era: NGO

GEORGE TOWN – From April 2020 to December 2021, 815,000kg of food waste was saved from landfills with the help of food aid non-governmental organisations (NGO) that partnered with Green Hero.

During the Green Hero Appreciation Award 2022 event held at Komtar today, its founder Calvin Chan explained that the data collected is based on total sales and distribution throughout the pandemic era.

Chan saw the need to provide food to the needy, especially the NGOs that shelter children, old folks and special needs children which were not able to hold their regular activities to generate money for sustenance and connected them with corporations that have an oversupply of food.

A majority of the saved food consists of second-grade vegetables, bread, sushi and dim sum.

Since these foods are only fresh for a short period of time, the items are either sold anonymously at a lower price to the public or channelled to organisations who need them.

After almost two years, these organisations were honoured for their help in reducing food waste.

Among them include House of Hope, which saved and distributed a total of 100,705kg of food; Kawan a total of 100,000kg, Kechara Soup Kitchen a total of 277,777kg and Mutiara Food Bank a total of 430,000kg.

“I believe that collaboration can help us as a society reach our green goal.

“During the pandemic, we saw things change when we went against the odds and rescued food for distribution to the needy, and at the same time, doing it with less use of plastic.

“It will take effort from all of us if Penang wants to be a clean and green state by 2030. We don’t need to be everywhere, but we can work together to mobilise our green efforts,” he said.

Penang Welfare, Caring Society and Environment exco, Phee Boon Poh, who was also present at the event, admitted that though there were those in Wuhan, China in December 2019 to see first-hand the spread of Covid-19 and had the knowledge on how to prepare for the pandemic, there was an oversight on his part when it comes to food distribution to the needy during a lockdown.

“We learned a lot from Kechara Soup Kitchen, and distribution organisations like Kawan and Lighthouse.

“It is during these times of difficulty that someone suddenly stands up to take the lead – and this time, it is Calvin Chan,” Phee said, thanking Green Hero for spearheading the food distributing process and engaging the state-funded Mutiara Food Bank in his efforts.

Phee also gave a breakdown of the total food distributed from 2017 to November 2021.

A total of 962.119 metric tonnes of vegetables and fruits and 214.6 metric tonnes of baked items were saved during that period.

The items were distributed to 71,636 families under welfare, those living at PPR and low-cost homes.

In the near future, he is looking to consolidate all the NGOs involved in food saving and distribution under one programme so there will be less wastage from overlapping distribution.

All recipients of the food will also have to be registered so the state can look into improving their livelihoods.

He also congratulated the Penang Green Council on its success in setting up an Emergency Unit after lobbying for it since 2017.

The emergency unit will be looking into food distribution during emergencies, similar to what the state did during the Selangor and Pahang floods in December last year. – The Vibes, March 12, 2022