Food & Beverage
F&B Waste Management
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F&B Waste Management

6% of global GHG emissions come from food losses and waste.

Every year, Singapore generates ~800 million kg of food waste. That is equivalent to the weight of more than 55,000 double-decker buses (NEA)

The preferred method to manage food waste is to avoid generating it. When this is not possible, excess food should be re-distributed or repurposed.

Lastly, food waste should be segregated for recycling and treatment according to the Food Recovery Hierarchy developed by the USEPA .

Divert unsold food from Waste
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Implement last-minute deals to avoid waste, partner with one of the existing app if necessary (refer to the suppliers list below).

S$ 342 million

worth of food is wasted every year in Singapore, equivalent on average to S$258 per household.
(Todayonline)

~50%

of the yearly food waste is generated by non-domestic sources (manufacturers, retailers, hotels, malls...).
(Todayonline)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Tackling food wastage with the power of technology
Treatsure

Treatsure is Singapore's first mobile platform connecting businesses with surplus food (mainly in hospitality) to individuals. On the corporate side, they partner with businesses that are willing to purchase surplus food or sustainable products/ corporate gifts, or to host corporate talks/ seminars on food waste.

Digital platform (app) to reduce food loss
TreeDots

TreeDots is a B2B platform that enables suppliers to re-distribute their unsold inventory to organisations that can use them. Suppliers save money from otherwise discarded products and buyers get quality ingredients at lower prices.

Donate surplus food
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Donate excess food to associations or individuals.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) created the Food Recovery Hierarchy to prioritize actions towards prevention and diversion of wasted food.

4.1%

of Singaporeans faced moderate to severe food insecurity between 2016 and 2018.(Socialservice.sg)

6,500

free meals are cooked up daily for collection or delivery by the charity kitchen Willing Hearts.(willinghearts)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Redistribution of excess food
The Food Bank Singapore

The Food Bank Singapore's mission is to end food insecurity in Singapore through redistribution of food. They salvage approximately 550 tonnes of food a year, from manufacturers, distributors, retail stores, hotels, F&B establishments and consumers, and make it available to people in need through a network of member beneficiaries (360 to date).
They work with a Food Hygiene Consultant and a laboratory partner to ensure that the food quality meets the required standards for distribution.

What they Collect:
- Non-Perishables: All dry, packaged food items as long as they are unexpired, unopened and with at least 1 week of shelf life.
- Perishables & Cooked Food Rescue: fresh pastries, vegetables, meat, dairy products and cooked food from hotels or other F&B establishments. Food items are delivered directly to beneficiary centres for consumption within the day.

Redistribution of excess food
Food from the Heart

Food from the Heart is a charity founded in February 2003 by Singapore-based Austrian couple Henry and Christine Laimer, who were inspired to channel surplus food from bakeries to families in need after they read an article about bread wastage.

Today, Food from the Heart is Singapore's foremost independent food charity with IPC status that makes a tangible and meaningful contribution to fighting hunger through bread rations and food packs, and bringing joy through the distribution of toys and birthday celebrations. With the support of donors, food industry partners and more than 10,000 volunteers, Food from the Heart made a difference to the lives of 40,300 people throughout Singapore by distributing S$5.9 million worth of food in 2018.

Turning excess food into daily meals for the needy
Willing Hearts

Willing Hearts is well known for their soup kitchen: they prepare, cook and distribute ~5,000 meals everyday across the island, all year long.
Besides feeding the needy, they also provide marginalised communities such as the disabled, the elderly, low income families, migrant workers, etc. with assistance to rehabilitation and reinstatement into society.

Zero Waste Food Rescue Group
Divert for 2nd Life (D2L)

D2L is a zero waste food rescue group that diverts food from the bins and gives them a 2nd life. Our priority is to help companies and organisations attain zero food waste by rescuing their unwanted/unsellable items.

These include:

  • expired/damaged items,
  • leftover/surplus/unsold items,
  • blemished/ugly produce,
  • unused parts of produce.

Rescued food is diverted according to the food recovery hierarchy to give each item the highest and best use, for both consumption and non-consumption uses.

Track food waste
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Monitor your food waste by implementing a food waste tracking system/ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). It can help you to keep track of your actual waste, follow your actual consumption and therefore decrease stocks & waste.

You may hire a professional to help you on the implementation and tracking of food waste.

8%

of worlwide global GHG emissions come from the food we waste.
(drawdown)

20%

The amount of food waste generated in SG has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years.
(NEA)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Food Waste Management Solutions
Lumitics (SG)

Lumitics seeks to accelerate the transformation of kitchens around the world towards more sustainable operations, by empowering them with a tracking and monitoring solution to better manage their food waste.

AI-enabled food waste tracker
Winnow

Winnow believes that food is far too valuable to waste, and that technology can transform the way we use food. They help companies run a more efficient and sustainable kitchen by automating food waste capture, enabled with AI.

Food Waste Prevention Expert
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

LightBlue is an awarded Best Small Business: Good Food for All by the United Nations (among 2,000 applicants) with a vision to reconcile sustainability with business excellence.

They specialize in food waste prevention through capacity building workshops, Food Intel Tech (FIT) — food waste monitoring tech, and Food Waste Prevention program to reduce food waste, cut operational expenses, and move towards zero food waste to landfill and low carbon operations.

Donate food waste to feed animals
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Divert food scraps/ waste to feed animals in local farms.

Did you know some farms are specialised in insects, such as the black soldier flies? They can turn food waste into biomaterials.

19%

of food waste was recycled in Singapore in 2020.
(NEA).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Turning food waste into valuable materials
Insectta

As the first urban insect farm in Singapore rearing the black soldier fly (hermetia illucens), Insectta takes food waste and returns it into the economy as valuable biomaterials: chitosan, organic semiconductors, protein & probiotics.

Convert food waste to industrial usage
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Used cooking oil can be recycled into biofuel.

Dedicate food waste (okara and soy bean waste) to higher value products.

Coffee grounds are 100% natural and have various practical usage related to gardening, cleaning, scrubbing or technological usage such as fire retardant material. Contract with a specialist to collect them. If you want to compost it by yourself, be aware that used coffee grounds must be detoxified by composting for a minimum of 98 days for plants to benefit from the potassium and nitrogen contained in the roasted beans.

6 mil. tons

of coffee grounds are thrown away every year.
(The sustainable Coffee Guide)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

List of licensed used cooking oil (UCO) collectors

Used coffee grounds can be given to your nearest community garden.

Want to know more about sustainable coffee ? Read this sustainable coffee Guide.

Suppliers that provide solutions:
Used Coffee Recycling Services
A1 Environment Pte Ltd

A1 Environment was created in 2012 by a team with over 20 years' experience in recycling. A1 Environment was set up to provide more flexibility and better used coffee recycling services to organizations.

Local food waste recycling facilities
EcoWise (Bee Joo Industries Pte Ltd)

The company collects agro-waste and waste derived from food processing industries such as spent barley grains, soya waste and milk powder from local major food-processing factories and recycles them into food additives for poultry feed – distributed regionally within South East Asia

Local food waste recycling facilities
Lam Tak Pte Ltd

Lam Tak has been in the animal feed industry since 1968. They have manufacturing factories in Singapore and Malaysia, they are able to manufacture standard, or unique feed formulation upon request.

Today, the company provides a wide variety of raw feed materials, such as soy press cake, spent grain, vegetable oil, food & feed grade dairy products, etc.

Local food waste recycling facilities
Tiong Lam Supplies Pte Ltd

Founded in 1994, the company saves food waste from being wasted. They first began operations ferrying excess bread from production houses to Aqua farms for fish feed. As they progressed, they began developing resource recovery competencies to salvage materials from food waste that could otherwise be useful in the Agriculture industry.

Today, they work with food manufacturers to lower their cost of disposal through waste repatriation and resource recovery. They target waste hotspots in production line and convert these losses into gains fo their clients.

Install a food waste treatment system (1/2)
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Under the Resource Sustainability Act, several mandatory provisions have been adopted regarding food waste segregation and treatment in Singapore.

From 2021 onwards - Developers of new commercial and industrial premises must set aside space for on-site or off-site food waste treatment systems in their design plans.

From 2024 onwards - All existing large commercial and industrial food waste generators will be required to segregate food waste for treatment using on-site food waste treatment systems (compost) or off-site facility treatment. This includes large hotels and malls, large industrial developments housing food manufacturers, food caterers and food storage warehouses.

To support businesses in their efforts, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has produced a series of food waste minimization guidebooks, which provide advice and examples across the whole value chain:

less than 2%

of the valuable biological nutrients infood by-products and organic waste is composted or valorised in cities, worldwide.
(Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation)

S$100,000 a year

is the amount The Grand Hyatt Singapore saved, by recycling its food waste with a biomax thermophilic digester.
(Channel News Asia, 2018)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Corporates can apply to the Food Waste Fund which covers the capital cost of food waste treatment solutions, capped at $100,000 per applicant. Application period: 18 May 2020 - 28 Feb 2021

Suppliers that provide solutions:
Pipe-in water dispensers
Westcom Solutions

Westcom Solutions Pte Ltd (WCS) was established with the aim to conserve and improve the eco-green system environment and overall well-being. Their team is always committed to discover, updates and devoted to developing and producing a wide range of equipments and products from food waste recycling technology to water and bio-toilet technology.
Westcom Solutions Pte Ltd provides food waste composting & recycling machines.

Waste Management products & services (digester, composter, audit, soil analysis...)
Maeco Technologies Pte Ltd

Maeco Technologies specializes in providing solutions for organic waste management. They perform audits to understand the specific needs of their customers and produce both the machinery and biological fermentation agents to address those needs. They combine engineering, design, fabrication capabilities and scientific expertise.

On-site food waste treatment systems
A-Smart Life Pte Ltd

Established in 2017, A-Smart Life provides compact recycling machines that allow low- energy, high-speed processing of food waste for conversion to natural, healthy fertilizers. They are an approved vendor under the NEA listing.

On-site food waste treatment systems
Boon Poh Refuse Disposal Pte Ltd

Boon Poh delivers a range of environmental solutions including integrated waste management with recycling, cleaning and conservancy, and landscaping services.

Moving in the direction of environmental sustainability, their solutions work towards efficiency, performance, and productivity. They aim to provide a one-stop platform for environmental management needs. They provide on-site food waste composters and digesters.

On-site food waste treatment systems
Datumstruct (S) Pte Ltd

Datumstruct is helping commercial food service facilities to reduce their food waste & carbon foot print. They currently exclusively distribute a world leading brand of Bio-Digester, Powerknot (Silicon Valley, USA ) in South East Asia Market and Hong Kong / Macau Market.

On-site food waste treatment systems
Zero Waste Solution Pte Ltd

The company provides on-site waste treatment solutions such food waste digester, food waste composter, integrated food waste conveyance solution.

Install a food waste treatment system (2/2)
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

See details above

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Food Waste Management Solutions
Orca

Using cutting edge technology, ORCA allows food waste to be treated on site at the source through the use of aerobic digestion, reducing the need to store food waste or having food waste sent to the landfill or incinerators. Catering for all business sizes and volumes of food waste with the smallest unit no bigger than a washing maching.

Buddies - Experience sharing

The « green journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.

Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.

Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.

Shen Hui Tan
Co-founder - merchandise.blue, Founder - Kizuna

My first job was with a major consulting company in Japan. I appreciated my time there, but was always yearning to do something with a greater direct impact, and something that gives me a greater sense of purpose. I am blessed to have the opportunity to travel the world, and be exposed to different perspectives, ways of living and available alternatives!

A series of serendipitous events led to the founding of merchandise.blue with two highly experienced and interesting friends. Merchandise.blue offers merchandise like uniforms, towels and bags in more environmentally progressive textiles made of materials like seaweed, organic cotton and recycled fishing nets. 

When the opportunity to open Kizuna arose, it was clear that I wanted to apply similar values and principles to this physical space.

Yen Lyng Loh
Marketing & Sales Director - A1 Environment

Coming from a background of digital media, film-making, and digital marketing, Yen-Lyng fell into the sustainability field when she joined a waste management company as a Recycling Ambassador. During that time, she saw the many intricacies and challenges facing the very overlooked and underappreciated world of waste. So, when given the opportunity of working on a coffee recycling project, Yen-Lyng jumped at it. She will tell you more about her why and what of coffee recycling in her sharing and the challenges of lauching sustainable projects.

Rémi Cesaro
Founder & Director - Zero Waste City

Founder and Director of the consulting business Zero Waste City, Rémi provides engineering consulting services to large commercial and industrial facilities on waste management, energy efficiency, and packaging design.

He has gained a strong experience as a consultant covering a wide range of industries and technologies in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

He is a certified TRUE Advisor (Total Resource Use Efficiency) by the U.S. Green Building Council Inc. This certification recognised his knowledge in Zero Waste programs and his ability to support businesses to achieve the TRUE Zero Waste certification.

Duncan Craig
Director of Sustainability (Interior Environments) - Concourse

Duncan, originally from the UK, has been living & working in Asia for the last 16 years. He runs a creative interior design & project management company delivering projects across the Asia Pacific Region; specialised in retail, F&B and commercial sectors. Duncan is passionate about creating interiors that excite and engage Clients and Customers alike, all through the lens of sustainability.

Tomo Hamakawa
Managing Director - Earth Company / Mana Earthly Paradise

Tomo is a seasoned development professional having lived and worked in various corners of the world from the Tibetan plateau, Indian drylands, Indonesian tropics, to Japanese metropolises. He has extensive field experience working for international and local development NGOs across Asia and Africa, including Kopernik, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the World Bank. He was formerly an Assistant Professor at the Global Leadership Program at the University of Tokyo.

Tomo has a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard College, a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and was an Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellow (2008) and Innovation Fellow (2020) at the East-West Center. In 2014 Tomo was awarded the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award.