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INDONESIA: At a landfill that collects most of Jakarta’s waste, piles of trash can reach dizzying heights – 40 metres, or as high as a 12-storey building.
Much of it – more than 50 per cent – of the waste at Bantargebang, a landfill southeast of the capital, consists of leftover food, according to research by the Jakarta Environmental Agency. Jakarta produces more than 7,500 tonnes of trash daily and most of it is sent to this site.
The numbers, however, are not a surprise, given the findings of a recent government report.
The report by the National Development Planning Agency that looked at 20 years’ worth of data showed that 23 to 48 million metric tonnes of food was dumped every year from 2000 to 2019, translating to between 115kg and 184kg of food per capita per year.
Food waste costs the country between US$14-40 billion a year in economic losses, or up to 5 per cent of Indonesia’s GDP.
The country faces another issue related to food, with some children sufferings from stunting, a condition of 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 to 24.4 in 2021, the country wants to improve these figures.
MITIGATING THE FOOD WASTE PROBLEM
Efforts are under way to tackle both problems.
When it comes to food waste, among the solution finders is FoodCycle Indonesia, a food bank that distributes surplus food items from sources such as 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 parties to get involved in this. Because when asked to donate food, especially food that is edible, they are sometimes worried,” he told CNA.
“Corporations are worried that their brand could be negatively impacted if they give away food that they think is not edible, even though it still very much is safe to eat.”
One such firm that had similar concerns, but decided to reduce its food wastage is McDonald’s.
Food on display past its allocated holding time is usually thrown away, But now, as part of its food rescue programme, items like muffins and fried chicken are collected twice a day and donated.
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