Approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted worldwide. This happens in the form of food loss – food that is damaged as it moves through the supply chain – and food waste – edible food that is thrown away by retailers or consumers.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reversing this trend would preserve enough food to feed 2 billion people . That’s more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe.

Food wastage is a perpetual problem in Malaysia and according to SWCorp Malaysia, the households sector accounts for 44.5 percent of the 16,667.5 tonnes of food waste generated in Malaysia daily. About 24 percent or 4,005 tonnes of the food waste is classified as still edible, with the quantity sufficient to provide three meals to 2,970,000 people for a day.

Food waste and food loss have a significant impact on global warming. When wasted food goes to the landfill, it rots and emits greenhouse gases that damage our environment. Each year, 3 billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted because of food waste.

To put this into perspective, if wasted food were a country it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world after the U.S. and China. Taking small steps to reduce food waste, like eating leftovers and only buying the food that you need, helps fight hunger and climate change.

The Lost Food Project (TLFP) rescues ‘lost’ (or surplus) food quality, nutritious food from going to landfill, and redistribute these food to up to 60 charities and soup kitchens as well as numerous B40 communities who live below the poverty line.

The Lost Food Project