Gabrielle Kirstein, founder of food redistribution charity Feeding Hong Kong, goes head-to-head with Anushka Purohit, CEO of food upcycling start-up Breer, in this month’s great debate
A 2020 study in the US found that 94 per cent of restaurants do not donate excess food. Should it be the law that all restaurants in Hong Kong donate their excess food?
Anushka Purohit: YES
“[According to Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department,] 3,353 tonnes of food is sent to the Hong Kong landfills every day. If a law were enforced, restaurants would understand the magnitude of wastage that exists. The main issue is the lack of realisation. Restaurants predict demand and when demand isn’t met, the excess is simply disposed of. It’s easy riddance. If restaurants had to donate excess food, they would need to know exactly how much excess food is produced, and possibly even arrange logistics for the donation. This extra step would make restaurants re-analyse their supply chain processes and identify areas of improvement, tackling the food wastage problem at the root. [Speaking] as someone who uses food waste to innovate— whether using surplus bread to brew craft beer or wasted fruit peels to create skincare items— this law would make it easier for creative ideas to become a reality, building the foundation for a food waste-free world.”
Gabrielle Kirstein: NO
“Do I wish every food company in Hong Kong donated their surplus to charity? Yes. Is mandating restaurants to donate the answer? No. There are better ways. All companies along the food supply chain, not just restaurants, have, in the normal course of business, surplus food that could be donated. So why don’t they do it? There’s a misunderstanding of date labels and food safety concerns; a fear of liability; and the cost of coordinating and facilitating donation. Enforcing donations does not address these, which is why there are better steps legislators and regulators could take. Clearer labelling, Good Samaritan legislation [laws that protect those who help someone in distress if something goes wrong] and tax incentives for non-financial charitable donations would encourage all food companies—whether a farm, manufacturer, distributor, retailer, caterer or restaurant—to donate rather than dump their surpluses. That would mean a greater variety and volume of food would go towards feeding people rather than landfills. Now these are changes I’d like to see.”