Volunteers Opened Pop-up Grocery Booths in Various Housing Estates in an Attempt to Reduce Food Wastage

2021-02-21 , 10:00 am

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Have you ever wondered how much food is wasted in Singapore?

Well, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA), about 10 per cent of total waste in Singapore comes from food waste.

And based on data from 2019, roughly only 18 per cent of said food waste is recycled.

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So just let that sink in the next time you leave your half-eaten cai png at the food centre.

Which is why people like Madam Azlina Ahmad, 40, have started getting creative with ways to reduce said wastage.

Mdm Azlina got the idea after visiting a woman who lived alone.

In the corner of the unit, there were a number of rice packets she got after using food hampers given by volunteer groups.

However, they were in excess and the woman could not share them with anyone.

She also felt food donations were sometimes not well-distributed among beneficiaries living in public rental flats.

Some might receive too much and some may not receive enough.

So, in August 2020, Mdm Azlina opened a pop-up grocery booth at a void deck of a public housing block near her home in Bedok.

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This allowed residents in the neighbourhood to donate items they do not need and exchange them for things they do.

“By sharing what we have, we can minimise food wastage.”

So how well has this idea taken off?

Expansion & Government Support

For starters, this has gone beyond Mdm Azlina’s area of Bedok.

The initiative is now also in Yishun, Tampines and Macpherson and has also received funding from Our Singapore Fund.

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In October 2020, she and the volunteer helpers received government funding of S$10,000 for the pop-up booth.

This covered majority of the cost of running the operations for a year.

Volunteers also chipped in several hundred dollars in total from their own money each month to pay for logistics and miscellaneous fees.

The Government welcomes initiatives like these, especially since Budget 2021 is aimed at how we can come out of COVID-19 stronger.

And despite the pandemic affecting her job, Mdm Azlina says her income is still alright.

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She sees it as an opportunity to bless those around her.

However, she also limits the number of items each person can take.

This ensures as many people as possible can get what they need, with limitations varying based on the size of donations per week.

Still, the reception has still been very positive, with people even queuing up early in the day.

Mdm Hazlina also feels happy when people ask if the initiative would reach their areas, and hopes to bless more housing estates in the future.

Well, for all you know, we might be seeing this in every estate in the near future.

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Featured Image: Ministry of Finance