When we think of where to go on holiday and what delicious food to enjoy and check in, in fact, lots of elderly people and grassroot families in Hong Kong do not have enough food. Yet, Hong Kong’s leftover food problem turns out to be severe. As a charity organization that mainly solves leftover food problems, Food Commons Foundation has “saved” an accumulated 10,000 tonnes of leftover food that were supposed to be sent to landfills! The organization has been recruiting volunteers to participate in food collection action in different districts. If you are concerned about the surplus food problem, how can you give a helping hand?    

As you may not be aware, 3,000 tonnes of leftover food are discarded in Hong Kong every day. Though most of them are still edible, they end up being sent to landfills. It also increases the load of landfills. The charity organization Food Commons Foundation’s priority is to collect edible food at the source of food waste (e.g. retailers like markets and supermarkets) and reduce environmental pollution and the load of landfills due to food waste. On the other hand, they redistribute and share food with the people in need in the community and search for other workable “food upcycling solutions”. Since 2009, Food Sharing Action has “saved” an accumulated amount of over 10,000 tonnes of surplus food that were orginally to be delivered to landfills. It was approximately equal to the weight of 707 double-deck buses. The number of beneficiaries is almost 10 million including the elderly, low-income persons or families, children, disadvantaged groups, etc. 

Food Commons Foundation and community organizations and volunteer teams collect leftover food from markets, restaurants and merchants and assort, select and process them before distributing to the needy in the communities every day. Now food collection and sharing work is being implemented in 16 districts throughout Hong Kong including Tsuen Wan, Kwai Fong, Yuen Long, Hung Hom, To Kwa Wan, Sheung Wan and Causeway. A past event Food for Thought was a joint effort with Tin Shui Wai Community Development Network for four years and collected food weighing a total of 734,004 kgs. The total number of beneficiaries was 447,583. At the end of 2018, Action to Save the Mandarins was initiated connecting licensed food manufacturers in different districts. Not only did the soon-to-be discarded mandarins turn into jam and dried fruits, but it also aroused public attention to Upcycling of Leftover Food. The Foundation calls for people who are interested to promote leftover food collection and sharing to join and register as Food Commons volunteers. It welcomes private or corporate donations of food as well.  

Last year 3.2 million leftover mooncakes in HK  The second highest in history 

Hong Kong’s first community food recycling environmental group, Food Grace conducted a survey on mid-autumn mooncake consumption and mooncake packaging recycling action between July and August. 350 families were interviewed online and here were the discoveries:  

1. There were 3.2 million leftover mooncakes all over HK in 2022 (The second highest in history and it was 31% less than the previous year.) 

2. Health concerns were the biggest reason for leftover mooncakes. 

3. Due to poor economy, citizen’s budget for purchasing mooncakes has decreased by 18.3%, the number of mooncakes (bought for personal use) has decreased by 27.1% and the number of mooncakes (as gifts) has decreased by 52.1%.   

As Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, if there are mooncakes to be donated, please join Food Grace’s mooncake collection action and send to public collection points before 27 September. This year, there are over 80 collection points in Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories making it more convenient for everyone to donate mooncakes.  

【INFO】

Food Commons Foundation 
Website：https://foodcommons.hk/en/

Food Grace 
Website：https://www.facebook.com/foodrecycling

Original article：
https://hk.ulifestyle.com.hk/topic/detail/20016959/