Parties are a great way of celebrating an occasion, reuniting with friends, and having a good time. After all, who doesn’t love attending a birthday party, wedding dinner, or festive event. However, what is not cool about parties is when there are leftovers that get thrown away. In fact, Malaysians throw away enough food to feed 12 million people a day. Because of this issue, What A Waste is stepping in to help collect and redistribute perishables and dry food.
What A Waste
What A Waste is a Malaysian social enterprise that focuses on cutting down food waste in Malaysia. They achieve this by rescuing surplus food and then distributing it to the marginalised community. Most of their recipients are from the B40 communities who may struggle to get food on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the team also reaches out to restaurant owners, bakeries, hotels, food courts, cafes, and more. Through this, any unsold or unserved food at the end of the day can be collected by them. In fact, Sunway Pyramid Hotel recently gave them over 5KG of nasi lemak to be redistributed.
Any perishable food will be distributed immediately to ensure there are no mishaps. Other than that, you can also register as a food donor if you have an event coming up. The team will arrive at your event to quietly pack away the surplus food. After that, they will transport it to their recipients home where the food is transferred to a plate or container. Then, What A Waste will take back the original containers to be used for future packing so as to avoid single use plastics.
Other Ways to Avoid Wasting Food
However, there are also other ways in which you can avoid wasting food. Firstly, if you are holding an event then you can prepare containers for guests to pack some food. Even better, you can suggest your guests bring their own containers to avoid using more plastic than necessary.
Next, if you are generally a small eater and find yourself struggling to finish food, then having a container on hand is useful. That way you can pack the rest of your meal and save it for later. Additionally, you avoid any additional charges, single use plastic, and you get two meals for the price of one!
Lastly, in regards to food at home, meal preps are a great way to help with this issue. By planning out your meals for the week, you can also prepare your grocery list. Having a list will help you avoid buying any unnecessary produce that can sit in your fridge until it’s gone bad. Additionally, you are less likely to go out for meals or order takeaway when there is already cooked food in the fridge.
