KPKT STRENGTHENS FOOD WASTE PREVENTION CAMPAIGN IN CONJUNCTION WITH DEEPAVALI

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) through the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) continues its efforts to raise public awareness on the importance of reducing food waste through the Sustainable Deepavali 2025 Management Engagement Programme at the Bukit Jalil Stadium here today.

Its deputy minister, Datuk Aiman ​​Athirah Sabu said the programme focuses on the Value Food, Avoid Waste Campaign, implemented to educate the community to be more prudent in managing food, especially during the festive season.

"Our focus is actually on ensuring that our traders and visitors remember not to waste food because we actually want to reduce solid waste sent to landfills," she told reporters after attending the programme.

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According to her, Malaysia produces about 40,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, with 44.5 per cent or about 18,000 tonnes of which is food waste and said the campaign is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 that aims to reduce global food waste by half by 2030.

“If we look at the world level, there are approximately one billion tonnes produced per day for solid waste and 60 per cent of it is food. In Malaysia, it is approximately 40 per cent,” she said.

She said that wasting food was unhealthy, considering that there are still many hungry people around the world.

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“This is very unhealthy because at the same time, around the world there are approximately 800 million people who are hungry, and in the context of Malaysia, such programmes that are driven by SWCorp are one of the advocacies to our people so that at the same time we can have fun and not waste,” she said.

She said that the campaign also emphasised the importance of reducing the use of single-use plastics and practising prudent waste disposal.

Commenting further, Aiman ​​Athirah said that 300 food stalls participated in the programme, with the participation of 50 SWCorp staff, which began on Oct 11 and will end on Oct 19.

Meanwhile, SWCorp chief executive officer Khalid Mohamed said that his team is committed to ensuring that the country's cleanliness level is at the best level in collaboration with strategic partners such as Alam Flora.

“We, together with strategic partners such as Alam Flora, have the highest commitment. We want to ensure that our homeland is clean and most importantly, our cleanliness is on par with developed countries,” he added.

The Sustainable Deepavali 2025 Management Engagement Programme was implemented in collaboration with Agenda Suria Communication Sdn Bhd and the involvement of volunteers from the GEMA Malaysia Youth Organisation and ReMeal. It also included the distribution of aprons, hats, and awareness stickers to traders as well as the distribution of murukku and food containers to visitors.

-- BERNAMA