While some people are concerned about Singapore's food wastage problem, others can watch food being wasted without blinking an eye.

According to the National Environment Agency, Singapore wasted 665,000 tonnes of food in 2020.

A few causes of food waste are overproduction and buying too much food.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, about one-third of all food produced ends up being wasted.

With smart food storage and by not buying too much food, we can avoid wasting food in ways such as letting it expire and having too much food left over after a meal.

All the food that is thrown away has taken a lot of land and labour to produce. It takes time and dedication for a single meal to reach your plate.

Let's not take the good food we have for granted, as there are people in the world who have barely enough food to survive.

We can work together to tackle the problem of food waste.

A few ways to play your part are to buy only the amount of food you are sure you will be able to finish, to donate leftovers from parties instead of throwing them away, and to finish edible products before their expiry dates.

The next time you are about to push food off your plate and into the dustbin, think again.

Evleen Kaur Chopra, 11

Primary 6 pupil