The Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted two researches of food waste respectively in 2014 and 2018. The results show that the average annual ecological footprint, the amount of land required to sustain the use of natural resources, takes up 24 percent of China's land and wastes 865 billion cubic meters of water, equivalent to the water of all the reservoirs in the country. 

From the perspective of the industrial chain, the waste and environmental pollution is more severe. For instance, the pesticides and fertilizers used in agricultural activities have a detrimental effect on land and water resources. The loss of grain in storage, transportation and processing reached over 35 billion kg. Kitchen waste accounted for 37 to 62 percent of municipal solid waste, producing infectious bacteria that are a threat to human health.

According to a survey conducted by Oriental Outlook, only 57 percent of people were aware of the problem of food wastage though in Chinese history, thrift is the mainstay of the food culture.

Catering reflects a society's civilizational level, indicating the moral standards and individual qualities of consumers and industry practitioners. Recently, Chinese society has been growing increasingly concerned over the rising food waste habit and activities have been organized to spread awareness about the importance of not wasting food. This has improved the situation to some extent.

Now lawmakers have suggested that the top legislature amend regulations so that restaurants can levy an additional charge on customers who waste food based on the amount of leftovers.

This demonstrates that the solution to the waste issue is to change the bad habits and lifestyles of people as well as educate those working in different links of the food chain.

This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Oriental Outlook on January 7