Addressing the problems of food waste generation in Malaysia

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of government food waste policy on household food waste disposal and household's knowledge of environmental effects of food waste could be a panacea towards food waste reduction in Malaysia. The study was conducted in Selangor and Terengganu applying purposive random sampling with 333 respondents representing same number of households. 257 were from Selangor and 76 from Terengganu. The primary data was collected through structured questionnaire and was analyzed by descriptive statistics and logistics regression model. Findings has shown in percent Selangor, 41.6 respondents or households gives out their edible food waste to neighbours, while Terengganu had 63.2 percent who gives their edible food waste to neighbours rather than disposed it into the waste bins. The most frequent food waste by Selangor respondents were rice and fruits at 19.1 and 36 percent receptively. While Terengganu had 9 and 26 percent that frequently waste same composition of food waste. Knowledge of environmental effects of food waste on cost of waste management, its impacts to increase energy consumption, government policy on household food waste management and government creating awareness of the impact of food waste to the environment were significantly related to influence household's to reduce food waste.