Reducing food waste in Singapore: new action required under the Resource Sustainability Act

With the robust recovery of the tourism industry, the increase in the number of in-person business events has underscored the importance of tackling food waste across venues. To glean some updates on how sustainability law and policies are changing the landscape of the Singapore F&B industry, M&C Asia speaks with Preston Wong, CEO and co-founder of treatsure.

Wong is also an adjunct faculty at Singapore Management University's Yong Pung Hong School of Law and College of Integrative Studies, and a lecturer at Yale-NUS College, teaching sustainability law and policy. The views expressed in this story are his own and do not represent the views of Singapore Management University or Yale-NUS College:

New obligations for hotels

For a number of years now since 2019, Singapore hotels and large building occupiers have been put on notice concerning their upcoming obligations under the Resource Sustainability Act (RSA) to implement food waste segregation and treatment from 2024. Large hotel groups such as Accor and Hyatt have also set bold and clear goals to reduce food waste at their properties. However, the pandemic had put a halt on many sustainability projects and priorities.

Policy developments

The drive to galvanise action on food waste looks set to be revived soon. Hotels and MICE operators may wish to keep abreast of the flurry of policy developments. For instance, an amendment to the RSA was tabled in Parliament earlier this year, where upcoming legislation will include requirements for mandatory food waste reporting to the National Environment Agency (NEA) as well as off-site treatment options.

Earlier in 2022, the hotel industry sustainability roadmap unveiled by the Singapore Tourism Board envisions hotels to commence tracking of carbon emissions by 2023 and to reduce emissions by 2030.

The writing is finally on the wall for the hospitality and MICE industry. Prudent food waste management will be part of the responsibility that operators will have to consider as part of the guest experience. Further, as the ESG call for companies to be more sustainable intensifies, operators can expect that some guests may even need them to provide data and solutions on the food waste or carbon footprint generated during their events. They will likely have to consider holistic solutions instead of the traditional practice of discarding the food, with greater accountability.

Four ways to create value

The good news is there are at least four innovations that can create value for a hotel or MICE organiser on this front:

· The first is to actively reduce food waste at source, either by surveying the client to refine internal forecasting of how much food to prepare for the event, or by gleaning insights from historical food waste data. AI and waste tracking tools such as Lumitics or Winnow could be considered.

· The second innovation is to explore monetising surplus food for sale to sustainably-minded consumers via innovative platforms such as treatsure.

· A third way is to recycle and convert the food waste into other by-products such as compost.

· A fourth solution would be to partner other companies to upcycle some of these wasted ingredients into new products such as snacks and drinks.

Pursuing one or more of these will help to pave the way for more sustainable events.

Some background information of the RSA:

To meet segregation and treatment requirements, the Singapore government will be introducing a new requirement for building managers to submit food waste reports to the NEA under Section 27C of the RSA.

This will raise awareness on the amount of food waste generated, and encourage building managers to pursue waste minimisation opportunities.

To ensure minimal burden on building managers, it has simplified data requirements to key information such as the overall building-level tonnages.

The government will stagger the implementation of the food waste segregation, treatment and reporting requirements:

· For new buildings, the requirements will commence from 1 Jan 2024. These are buildings for which application for planning approval was submitted on or after 1 Jan 2021.

· For existing buildings, the requirements will commence progressively from the second half of 2025.