After two years, Environment and Conservation Fund sponsored ECF Food Commons @ Shatin team to change the uniform.  

Food Commons Foundation sincerely invites the strong and determined you to become Tai Po bread sharing volunteers! 

Last week, a volunteer team from Hong Kong Metropolitan University participated in volunteer actions in Tai Wai and Tai Po districts respectively. The students were full of enthusiasm and energy and helped to collect leftover bread and distribute it to those in need in the community. Through personal experience, students were able to learn to cherish food and take practical actions to care for the community. They spent a meaningful and fulfilling evening. 

“Hello! Have you eaten yet? Do you need a meal box?” A volunteer bumped into the homeless man sleeping under the flyover again and tried to care for his needs in a friendly way.   

“Sure! Thank you. It’s so kind of you!” The homeless man who was originally lying on the ground immediately sat up and felt particularly energized after receiving the meal box. We hoped that this meal box could give him a little strength and feel the warmth of the earth. 

As autumn was gradually setting in, in this comfortable weather, volunteers brought their own shopping bags to collect unsold bread and distribute it to members in the neighbourhood, workers and people in need one by one. Though everyone did not collect much food, they did not mind. “It doesn’t matter whether there is leftover food or not. The most important thing is that no food will be wasted!”.

About 3,000 tonnes of food waste is discarded in Hong Kong every day. While most of them are still edible, they are sent to landfills. However, in the community, there are over a million elderly or grassroots people who do not have enough food to eat. Excessive leftover food leads to wastage and increases the load in landfills. A series of problems caused by food waste have a wide impact on the economy, people’s livelihood, environmental pollution and social development. In view of this, Food Commons Foundation’s Food Sharing Action was officially launched in 2009. It is the first food sharing action in Hong Kong that combines environmental protection and community mutual assistance. With a focus on the community, it connects groups from different districts to establish a resource network that can tackle the problem of food waste.