Save Food and Cut Waste

An Interview with Eugene Tay, Founder of SaveFoodCutWaste.Com

In the last article, we looked at how you can become a HDB Farmer in 4 simple steps. Today, we shine the limelight on Eugene Tay-the man behind Save Food Cut Waste, a website that introduces food waste as a very real problem and offers several useful tips on how to combat the issue.     Q: Tell us a little about yourself, what inspired you to start the Save Food Cut Waste movement? I'm the Founder and Director of Green Future Solutions, a sustainability consulting company that helps businesses and organisations address environmental challenges and identify green opportunities. I believe in spreading the environmental message, and inspiring and empowering others to take action. The global focus on food waste gained traction in 2009. According to the UN, one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year is lost or wasted. In Singapore, we threw away about 0.7 million tonnes of food waste in 2012 and only 12% was recycled. I think it’s time for Singapore to take a stand and stop food waste, so that’s why I started Save Food Cut Waste, a ground-up movement educating individuals, businesses and organisations in Singapore about the environmental and social impacts of food waste, and encouraging everyone to take action in reducing food waste.   Q: How is the feedback from individuals, companies and organisations so far on the notion of cutting down on food waste? We have feedback from some individuals that the tips are useful. Currently we are only using our website as an education tool, which has about 3,000 web pageviews per month.   Q: Aside from the website, do you conduct seminars etc to educate the public? We don't conduct seminars currently, but we have plans for talks in phase 3.   Q: What do you hope to achieve from the 'Save Food Cut Waste' movement in the next 5 years or so? Over the next 5 years, the campaign is focused on public awareness and educating individuals, businesses and organisations, on the solutions to reduce, redistribute or recycle food waste. Currently we are building the content for the website, including telling the stories and putting a face to the various aspects of solutions for food waste. Our 1st phase is to add interviews and tips for individuals and households to take action, which has been completed. Our 2nd phase is ongoing and we are still working on the interviews and tips for businesses and organisations to take action. Once phase 2 is completed, we will look at phase 3 on outreach to schools and working with various partners and food companies. We are partnering with ECO Singapore and hope that they can help us spread the message on food waste to the schools, as they organise regular environmental talks for schools. We also hope to organise regular public talks and events. If you're keen to find out more about cutting down on food waste at home, then check out Save Food Cut Waste' website at www.SaveFoodCutWaste.com! They have really comprehensive articles that come chock full of useful tips like how to store your food so they don't go bad or how to make non-toxic cleaners from your fruit leftovers. And if you have recipes for using left-over food to cook delicious meals, do email your ideas to hello@savefoodcutwaste.com. We at RenoNation definitely look forward to your healthy yet eco-friendly recipe!