Lawmaker urges officials to promote food waste reduction

Lawmaker Lam Lon Wai has proposed for the government to prevent “unreasonable consumption demands,” during Friday’s Legislative Assembly’s (AL) plenary meeting.
The lawmaker used mainland China as an example to propose a frugal dining culture in Macau.
Lam said that since the Macau handover, the city’s food waste has increased.
Lam cited government’s statistics which show that, in 2019, approximately 40% of the city’s solid waste (2.24 kilograms per capita) came from domestic disposals, making it the highest amount of waste compared to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing.
“Even though the large number of tourists create sizable amounts of trash and domestic waste, Macau residents’ [wastes] still correspond to the majority. We can’t simply shift responsibility to the tourists,” said Lam.
Lam hopes the local government will encourage workers to remind customers to order a suitable amount of food to prevent wastage.
He also urges the government to implement the “Clean Plate” movement to set a good example.
Raymond Tam Wai Man, Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA), also used statistics to show that tourists generate a minority of Macau’s trash.
According to Tam, in 2019, the incineration center treated 1,570 tonnes of domestic waste daily. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the number went down to between 1,200 and 1,300 tonnes daily.
“It can be proven that tourists or the tourism industry represent a [smaller] percentage of Macau’s daily trash,” said Tam.
“We can’t stop promoting the culture of reducing food waste. DSPA has been promoting it all the time,” said Tam, who also listed various DSPA programs including the bureau’s environmental protection hotel awards, food festival and other programs. Tam claimed that DSPA uses these programs to promote the local food culture. JZ