INDONESIA: At a landfill that will collects most of Jakarta’s waste, piles associated with trash can achieve dizzying heights – 40 metres, or even as high as a 12-storey building.
Much of it — more than 50 percent – of the waste in Bantargebang, a landfill southeast of the funds, consists of leftover meals, according to research by the Jakarta Environmental Agency. Jakarta produces over 7500 tonnes associated with trash daily and many of it is sent to this site.
The particular numbers, however , aren’t a surprise, given the particular findings of a latest government report.
The report by National Development Planning Agency that looked at 20 years’ worth of data showed that 23 to 48 million metric tonnes of meals was dumped every year from 2000 to 2019, translating in order to between 115kg plus 184kg of foods per capita each year.
Food waste costs the country in between US$14-40 billion a year in economic deficits, or up to five per cent of Indonesia’s GDP.
The country faces another concern related to food, which includes children sufferings from stunting, a condition associated with impaired growth and development due to malnutrition and poor hygiene. While Indonesia’s national stunting or low height-for-age prevalence has declined from 27. 6 per cent in 2019 in order to 24. 4 in 2021, the country wants to improve these numbers.
MITIGATING THE FOOD WASTE PROBLEM
Efforts are underway to tackle each problems.
With regards to food waste, one of the solution finders can be FoodCycle Indonesia, the food bank that will distributes surplus food items from sources like wedding parties, bakeries, corporate lunches and supermarkets.
The organisation helps to feed about 120, 000 people every year, but its general manager Cogito Ergo Sumadi Rasan said more needs to be done.
“The biggest challenge is actually to convince, to encourage many events to get involved in this particular. Because when questioned to donate foods, especially food that is edible, they are sometimes worried, ” this individual told CNA.
“Corporations are worried that their brand might be negatively impacted when they give away food they think is not ready-to-eat, even though it still quite definitely is safe to eat. ”
One such firm that had comparable concerns, but made a decision to reduce its food wastage is McDonald’s.
Food displayed past its allotted holding time is normally thrown away, But now, included in its food recovery programme, items like muffins and fried chicken are collected twice a day and given.