The chairperson of the government parliamentary committee for sustainability and the environment on how we need to do our part to ensure Singapore meets its goal of sustainability in protecting the environment
If you saw a video of Louis Ng, the member of parliament (MP) for Nee Soon group representation constituency (GRC), popping out of a familiar green waste disposal bin making its rounds on your social media feeds, your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you.
The chairperson of the government parliamentary committee (GPC) for sustainability and the environment was making an important point about food waste—considering how Singapore generated around 744 million kg of food waste in 2019, up by 20 per cent over the past decade. That’s the equivalent to two bowls of rice for an adult daily—and yet there are people struggling to put food on the table.
Ng will soon table a Good Samaritan Food Donation Bill in parliament through a private member’s bill, together with MPs Poh Li San (Sembawang GRC), Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) and Edward Chia (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC), to support the donation of food, to reduce the food waste and food insecurity gap.
“The law will help allay business concerns about liability issues from the donation of unsold food, under certain conditions. It matches two causes: to reduce food waste and provide food for the hungry. It’s insane that we throw good, edible food away, and there are people who are hungry,” expounds Ng. The team is currently seeking public feedback online until August 31.
The 43-year-old is among the younger generation of MPs in Singapore who are adept at using social media to connect with their constituents and be a force of positive influence. “Views can be very polarised on social media. Our job is to find the middle ground, by providing the facts and figures, so that people can make informed decisions.”
When food is wasted, so are the precious resources used to grow, transport, and dispose of them. This increases carbon footprint and contributes to global warming and climate change—and we can already see the effects happening around us.
In fact, when we meet Ng for this interview in mid-July (the week before Singapore returned to phase 2 heightened alert measures to stem the rise of Covid-19 cases), it had been raining heavily since the night before, with temperatures dipping to a low of 22.5 degrees Celsius. There were flash floods in some areas, and large trees being uprooted. Surely this is Mother Nature’s way of reminding us of the urgency of climate action?
Ng brought up these erratic weather patterns when he opened the first-ever parliamentary motion on climate change in February this year. Six MPs from the GPC, chaired by Ng, filed a private member’s motion calling on the government, the private sector and the people of Singapore to come together to ramp up efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
See also: MAS Will Be Investing US$1.8 Billion Into the Climate—Here’s Why That’s Important