Sugar Crush Miri

For our last and final post, lets get to know some fun facts!

Did you know?

·According to the World Hunger & Poverty Facts and Statistics, there is actually sufficient food produced in the world to feed everyone!
·7.6 million tonnes of food are wasted each year by none other than human beings. However, did you know that 70% of that waste is actually still in good condition to be consumed? This shows how much quality food mankind has wasted every single year.(Ozharvest 2022)
·Back in 2017, the Australian Government pledged to cut down 50% of food waste by 2030 (FIAL 2021).
·The cost of food waste to the Australian economy is $36.6 billion a year since majority of food waste in Australia comes from household (2.5 million tones) (FIAL 2021)

We hope that everyone have learned a thing or two about food waste!

It's Sunday again! Today's topic: How to Increase Awareness on Food Waste

Firstly, we should practice reducing & preventing food waste in our lives (ivaluefood 2022). For example, we can start by planning meals and buy what you need only as well as store foods in a suitable place

Next, we should spread the word about food waste! We can do so by sharing information about food wastage with friends, family and colleague so that we can allow other people to recognise the problem

On top of that, we can also organise a food waste event to give access to the community to understand and raise awareness for the problem as well as share information about food wastage with friends, family and colleague so that other people to recognise the problem.

We can also educate ourselves about food waste problem by understanding the impact of food waste on environment and human health as well as understanding the cause of food waste and how to prevent it.

Before we dive in to more information about food waste, let us get to know our collaborative partner, The Lost Food Project, and their contributions to Society!

The Lost Food Project (TLFP) saves 'lost' (or surplus) food quality and nutritious meals from waste. It equalises these to approximately 60 charities, soup kitchens, and countless B40 communities with low
incomes. TLFP gives students fruits and
veggies, rice and other essentials, which helps them provide a more balanced, nutritious meal. Since many parents can't afford the cost of fruits & veggies, TLFP offers healthy meals for the students at school to ensure these children get the
nutrients they need. TLFP is recovering high-quality leftover food from retail chains and international food producers that would otherwise end up in landfills giving it to Malaysians living in low-cost housing through the PPR (People's Housing Project) and over 55 verified nonprofits organisation.

The organisation is also presently saves 10 tonnes of food from garbage each week. This suggests that they can salvage only
1% of the food thrown into waste. They plan to help many more people, but everyone has to be aware of the situation and grasp the solution.

Another way to prevent food waste is to shop smart. An example us to avoid buying more food than you need. Secondly, Make a point to use up all the food you purchased during the last trip to the market before buying more groceries. Another thing that you could do during grocert shopping is to make a list of items that you need to buy and stick to that list so that you do not overbuy items that you don't initially need (Healthline, 2017). Moreover, it is best to plan your meals for the week before you go shopping and buy only the things needed for those meals(EPA).

Next is to put your food waste to use! You may compost food waste instead of throwing away (FAO, 2020) An example ti preserve your food waste is by aging celery, carrots and/or onions (and even apples) can be used to make vegetable stock (Conserve Energy Future). You can also make breadcrumbs from stale bread and
freeze them (Conserve Energy Future).

All in all, how should we stop the production of more food waste?

An example of how to reduce food waste is to understand food labelling (FOA, 2020). There’s a big difference between “best before” and “use-by” dates as sometimes, food is still safe to be consumed even after the “best before” date, whereas the “use-by” date indicates the time when it is no longer safe to eat the product. This will save you from throwing away wastes even if it is in bad condition.

Another way is to always eat and love your leftovers. Many individuals choose one or two days each week to eat any leftovers they may have saved in the fridge or freezer as part of a meal plan to reduce waste.(Johnson, 2019).

We should practice freezing and using the leftovers as an ingredient in another meal (FOA, 2020). This aids in he cleanliness of your fridge by reducing waste from individual meals (Johnson, 2019).

Let's talk about food waste management in Malaysia now!

The National Strategic Plan for Food Waste
Management in Malaysia (NSPFWMM) was
planned and proposed by the Ministry of Housing. Also, the Local Government of Malaysia did a collaboration with the Japan government's Ministry of the Environment in 2010 as they aim to inculcate public with a good habit of food

Moreover, waste disposal also includes food waste segregation for reducing greenhouse gases emission and reducing land utilization. In 2015, it was reported awareness and responsibility of segregating food waste from other wastes for every household
resident in the states of Pahang, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Kedah and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya following the Solid Waste Management and Public
Cleansing Management Act 2007.

The Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) has a high initiative in launching several food waste management programs under Agenda Petaling Jaya 21 in alleviating food waste issues in Petaling Jaya.

The program of home composting with food
waste was implemented among household
community by MBPJ in June 2008 to November 2009.

At research capacity, local tertiary institutions such as Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia have set up a pilot scale food waste digester (Cowtech CTM-100, CH Green Sdn. Bhd.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) which is able to process food waste into liquid fertilizer and biogas at a capacity of 100kg/day for its Zero Waste Campaign (The Star, 2015) and efforts towards sustainable agricultural farming, respectively.

So we have previously covered food waste management in restaurants. Now let's talk about food waste management in households!

Household food waste is any edible food that goes uneaten at any stage. Food s wasted due to lack of meal planning, food not correctly kept or any food items such as food cans that are left to expire. According ti BMS Public Health (2022), food waste doesn't include only physical and biological effects as ineffective household waste management can result in psychosocial consequences such as unpleasant fragrances, unappealing waste and cognitive thinking stress-related issues.

Food waste has been a worldwide concern for several decades, which is not new to Malaysia. Based on computation, 23,000 tons of food are deliberately wasted daily. Not only that, but also the amount expected to rise by 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020. Compared to worldwide analysis, the verage Malaysian throws away about 1.64kf of waste daily whereas the global average is 1.2kg of garbage.

Moreover, there are nearly 1800 rivers in the country. Unfortunately, over half of these rivers have been polluted and destroyed due to improper solid waste management.

Now that we have shared a bit on food waste and how it affects the country, let's talk about how food waste is produced in the first place!

Firstly, most food waste are often produced in restaurants. This is because when food is being prepared before work hours, there are often being overproduced as most restaurants prefer to exaggerate the estimation amount of sales they would get in one day. This would cause extra food to be wasted. On top of that, restaurants would always have expired food in their storage. Due to the food not being consumed in time, it is thrown away. Moreover, not all customers would finish their food after it has served them which will lead to food waste (Principato et al, 2021).

As an example, restaurant owners in the United States would produce about 39 million tonnes of wasted food whereas in the United Kingdom, an annual investment of 682 million euros in waste management is caused due to wasted food (Chang, 2022).

Ingredients and foods that are most commonly going to waste are radishes, potatoes and beetroot which takes up a whopping 46.2% of food waste. Annually, restaurants would produce enough foo waste that could feed up to 6 billion people in the world (Earth.Org, 2021)

Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future | Environmental News, Data Analysis, Research & Policy Solutions Environmental News, Data Analysis, Research & Policy Solutions

Sugar Crush Miri updated their info in the about section.

Why is it important for people and the general public to start being more sustainable with food?

People and all other forms of life can thrive in a healthy environment (Econation, 2019). This is because being surrounded in a healthy environment can encourage a better lifestyle, leading to a better life in itself. Sustainability is what encourages better health within the general public (Eco Warrior Princess, 2018). It motivates people to increase the usage of natural of natural products and to disregard the usage of synthetic products as it is much safer to use natural products.

Another reason why it is important for everyone to practice a more sustainable lifestyle is because sustainability is able to fortell the human ability to produce sufficient and quality food for everyone today and those in the future (The Sprude Eats, 2022). On top of that, if businesses were to follow the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, those businesses can expect to thrive in profitability as many people would want to support a business that maintains sustainability. With that, farm labourers and all other value chain sectors would earn just enough to get by in life (CRC Research, n.d.)

With that being said,

Here at Sugar Crush Miri, we would like to share as to why we have decided to partner up with The Lost Food Project for our university project.

One of our main goals through this collaboration is to raise awareness on the food wastage issues in our country. Issues regarding food waste is often disregarded by the general public as not many would think about the consequences of wasting food. According to the Solid Waste Management & Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp), Malaysians often produce food waste that is equal to the size of 7 Olympic swimming pools (Zainal, 2021). Due to this, we would like to encourage everyone to adapt to a more sustainable lifestyle for the benefit of the future generation.

The Lost Food Project is a non-profit organisation that aims to save wasted food that are still in high quality as well as still edible and redistributing them to those who needs it (TLFP, n.d.). They also aim to establish a highly effective food donor and recipient network while also ensuring operational excellence and enhanced services.

We are aiming to donate 30% of our earnings to The Lost Food Project in order to further support their organisation, while also supporting their cause while 70% of our earnings will be going back to the business owners that we have collaborated with.

With the information provided, we hope to be able to make a difference through our project.

- Sugar Crush Team

🎶𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶🎶

Good morning, everyone! I think it's about time for all of you to get to know us a little bit and dive into us and our business😍 Here is everything you need to know about us and our project for university😊🥰. For any inquiries, don't hesitate to send us a message!

Also, we will start selling our products very soon, so make sure to be on the lookout and turn your notifications on for us🤭.

What is food waste and how is it affecting our country?

Food waste is all edible food materials produced for human consumption; however, they are left uneaten or discarded. In other cases, accumulated food is left until it spoils or goes past its expiry date. Food waste can also happen due to excess supplies in markets. Most retailers tend to reject food broadly because it does not fit their quality and aesthetic standards. This circumstance will consistently occur when consumers fail to plan their meals properly or are not aware of the consequences of their actions. Nevertheless, there are inevitable situations where food waste, such as fruit peel, must be discarded.

Malaysia is well known for its outstanding cuisine. Unfortunately, the uniqueness of its food culture has been turning into a culture of waste. According to data from the Malaysian Solid WasteCorporation (SWCorp), food waste in Malaysia reached 15,000 tonnes per day in 2015. (Malaysia Kini, 2016). This crisis should not be deemed as it will affect the environment through greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, land occupation, water footprint, and biodiversity (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2019).

Sugar Crush Miri Sugar Crush Miri is a non-profit business platform established by the students of Curtin Malaysia with the aim of raising awareness regarding the issues of food waste surrounding our country.