Addressing the problems of food waste generation in Malaysia

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of government food waste policy on household food waste disposal and household's knowledge of environmental effects of food waste could be a panacea towards food waste reduction in Malaysia. The study was conducted in Selangor and Terengganu applying purposive random sampling with 333 respondents representing same number of households. 257 were from Selangor and 76 from Terengganu. The primary data was collected through structured questionnaire and was analyzed by descriptive statistics and logistics regression model. Findings has shown in percent Selangor, 41.6 respondents or households gives out their edible food waste to neighbours, while Terengganu had 63.2 percent who gives their edible food waste to neighbours rather than disposed it into the waste bins. The most frequent food waste by Selangor respondents were rice and fruits at 19.1 and 36 percent receptively. While Terengganu had 9 and 26 percent that frequently waste same composition of food waste. Knowledge of environmental effects of food waste on cost of waste management, its impacts to increase energy consumption, government policy on household food waste management and government creating awareness of the impact of food waste to the environment were significantly related to influence household's to reduce food waste.

Understanding Behavior of Household Food Waste Management: Food Waste Hierarchy Context

“…Environmental knowledge and awareness have a significant relationship to intention towards behavior, consistent with previous studies (Jereme et al, 2016;Ramayah et al, 2012). Therefore, formal or informal education about the environment can increase the intention to manage food waste and behavior.…”

“…In addition, SN adopted from (van der Werf et al, 2019;Xu, Ling, Lu, & Shen, 2017) And PBC adopted from (van der Werf et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2017); both were measured by Likert 6-scale (1=completely agree to 6=completely disagree). Finally, GI was developed from (Heidari et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2017), EA was synthesized from (Jereme, Siwar, Begum, & Talib, 2016;Thi et al, 2019;Ulhasanah & Goto, 2018;van der Werf et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2017), and BH was adopted from (Aschemann-Witzel, de Hooge, Amani, Bech-Larsen, & Oostindjer, 2015;Mondejar-Jimenez, Ferrari, Secondi, & Principato, 2016;van der Werf et al, 2019). These all three were measured using the Likert 6-scale (1=completely agree to 6=completely disagree).…”

Food wastes and food security: The case of Malaysia

“…Food wastage has reached to alarming rate amidst high cost of foods, as recently food subsidy was removed from some certain foods stuff which leads to more food insecurity in the society. This is because from observation some Malaysians consume foods more than the traditional three square meals per day obtained in other parts of developed and developing countries (Jereme et al, 2016). Some consumes up to four to five times of meal per day.…”

“…The high number of migrant workers from neighboring regions looking for greener pasture in Malaysia could attest to this fact that Malaysia is rich in food supply. Thus, it could be right say that Malaysians do not much food problem but rather food wastes problem (Jereme et al, 2016). As prepared and freshly cooked food could easily be obtain at every corner of the cities.…”

Impact of Movement Control Order (MCO) due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) on Food Waste Generation: A Case Study in Klang Valley, Malaysia

“…The MDKL's initiative of building nine recycling centers was unfortunately a failure due to the apathy and ignorance among the people towards the importance of proper waste treatment [58]. This reflects the low disposal of food waste in rural areas where more houses give their food waste to their neighbors, which demonstrates a brotherhood spirit in their communities [59].…”