Getting closer to Mega Project

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The edible food which is making its way to trash should make its way to someone’s plate. Nearly 40%of the food in Pakistan is wasted and about 43% of the total population is facing food insecurity. Let’s talk about that.

Food wastage is the sum of food loss and food waste. Food loss refers to loss of quantity of food that occur anywhere in the supply chain(post harvest losses). This includes loss of raw material as well while, food waste refers to loss of perfectly edible food before consumption at retailer or consumer level.

Food waste usually occurs in three ways; food left in plate, food waste at restaurants and food waste in supermarkets.

The problem of food waste is intertwined with the idea of urbanization. The rise in urbanization has led to food waste more than ever before. This has affected every segment of society and we cannot limit this as the problem of the poor only and we cannot just consider the rich as the problem creator.

During the course of my research for this topic, I interacted with some people of different walks of life to gain an insight and their outlook.

Firstly, I interacted with a worker, a labor in the company as he is among the worst affected people because of this food waste. I asked him about this pressing issue and the reply was not shocking but a little worrying. He talked about how he and his family never get to have proper three meals in a day. He considers himself lucky for getting lunch from the company. He directly linked food waste with the upper class of the society as they have a lot to eat, they are the one wasting food. While blaming others for food waste, this was his plate after being done with his lunch.

His explanation for leaving food in his plate was that the food is not that of a higher quality so its okay if it gets wasted or thrown away.

Following image is of the food left by another worker the same day.

The tea boy in the company however had a little diverse outlook. He blamed both workers and the office staff (comparatively the upper class) for leaving food on plates. He considered this as a pressing issue but said that there was nothing he could do about it. He simply put the left over food from plates into the trash. He also shared his observation that men waste more food on plate as compared to women.

This box of food is literally sitting on our office desk for the past 24hours.

The house helper shared some very strong concerns about food waste as well. She said that she never minded taking left over food from her employers but the way people give leftovers breaks her heart and makes food impossible to eat and it gets wasted. Giving two tablespoon worth of rice with a half eaten bread slice and some squashed pieces of fruit, all in one shopper is just not right. The inadequate quantity being given away and the way its given away leads the food to trash.

I also gathered opinions of a housewife. She said she felt strongly about the food waste. She added she tries her best not to waste any food while cooking and serving food. She added her concerns regarding food hoarding especially ahead of Ramazan and also confessed her part in this phenomenon.

At the same time she had a basket prepared of fruits and vegetables which she was going to discard because they were wilted and two days old now.

The information and the insights I was able to gather by this activity are a starting point for a huge conversation. Everyone is affected by the food waste but no one is ready to do anything about it. People find it easier to talk rather than doing. One myth or misconception of mine which was quickly corrected was that I always thought, its the people with excessive opportunities and wealth who waste food but that is not the case, our detachment to the food, lack of appreciation and lack of empathy towards the hungry person is the actual driver of food waste not the amount of wealth.

This has provided me a great insight that setting fair price shops, using leftover food (from plate) in compost are the secondary steps, changing people’s perspective is the first thing we need to do.