Consuming with care

>> In a world of excess, we tend to throw things away quite recklessly. But the food that you toss in the garbage could fill several starving stomachs per day. The untouched portions on your plate can be cooked and processed to make another good meal for those who really need it.

Research reveals that one third of the world’s food goes to waste. We also throw away around 1.3 million tonnes of food per year. That’s enormous.

Many countries have already started recycling food by reprocessing leftovers. This type of initiative hasn’t become popular in Thailand yet, but some small, hopeful starting steps have been made. For example, Tesco Lotus and some hotel and bakery companies are contributing excess goods to organisations including the Mirror Foundation and Thai Harvest-SOS.

After the donors round up unsold food such as blemished fruit, they make lists of them and contact charity organisations through an app to arrange to pick it up. This process is repeated on a daily basis to ensure all the excess food will be put to use.

Once the food arrives, Thai Harvest-SOS distributes it to charities such as the Mercy Centre in Klong Toey where they cook for over 140 children in their care. Some goods like canned food or bread may be stored for the next day.

When we learn about the ways that waste can be reused, we start to care more about the effects of our consumption patterns. And it’s always great to see the smiles on the faces of hungry kids.