The idea of taking food for granted hit home recently for me (How to make a nation of food lovers value food, Jan 5).

I was at a FairPrice outlet buying curry buns when I saw an employee restocking and removing some packets that had expired that day. I asked him why they could not be removed a week or a few days earlier so the buns could still be distributed to staff or charity beneficiaries for eating. He replied that he was following procedure.

As we chatted, he showed me trays of other expired buns, waiting to be disposed.

I'm guessing that it may not only be buns but also many other foods that have passed their sell-by date, waiting to be disposed of daily.

There is the other issue of plastic waste. While we are trying to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags and straws, I would like to draw attention to plastic bottles that contain soap, shampoo, detergents, cleaning agents and so on.

Very often, I find myself having to discard a bottle with the nozzle still in good condition. I try to clean it so it can be recycled. But recycling takes up resources too.

I wonder why more companies do not offer the option of refill packaging instead, so the same bottle can be refilled many times.

I see some brands of body wash and liquid detergent packaged in refill packaging, but not enough is done for other commonly used products. Fancy packaging should be shunned for the sake of the environment.

Tan Poh Ying