Food waste is a colossal problem, around the world, including in Southeast Asia. It damages global economic and environmental resources. The wastage of food comes with a huge price, as it consequently results in hiking the food prices. Then there is loss of land, water, and biodiversity, in addition to the negative impacts of climate change.
Tech and tech-driven business models have huge potential in reducing food wastage across the value chain. They can deliver a high return on investment for both traditional and foodtech companies. In many countries, food waste management is handled by governments. But the gravity of the issue is such that mere government-level efforts are inadequate. Recently, several entrepreneurs have given serious attention to this problem, and they have come up with innovative tech solutions. There are mainly three broad categories in food waste management: food waste prevention, food redistribution, and food waste recycling.
Food waste prevention
It refers to the prevention of food waste before it happens. Essentially, companies working in this space try to help restaurants/hotels/eateries prevent and minimise food waste from being generated.
Solutions coming out of Singapore are offering solutions to tackle this, by allowing chefs to have an overview of their food waste and receive feedback. This uses Artificial Intelligence and data analytics to provide insight into wasted food. From the Philippines, technology is working to prevent the problem that leads to food waste, by offering a purchasing system makes sure that orders for food are placed only when the inventory drops to a designated level.
Food redistribution
There are many tech and non-tech companies and charity organisations around the world that take surplus food from restaurants and hotels and redistribute it to the needy. Southeast Asian companies are offering many options. From B2B platforms allowing suppliers to redistribute their unsold inventory and middlemen who redistribute surplus stock of food and beverages companies, to a Thai app, that brings together restaurants and shops and consumers, for leftovers at the end of the day, thereby preventing food from being thrown out. In Malaysia, people can shop in “social supermarkets” that sell food that might be close to expiring or does not look perfect, regardless of its freshness, and that is rejected by other stores.
Food waste recycling
Food waste generated by households, restaurants, and corporations mostly end up in landfills, and its decomposition contributes to greenhouse gas emission, which can harm our environment. Some companies have found a way to address this issue by converting food waste into compost and energy. This allows food waste that comes from the farms to go back to the farms as fertiliser for future food, or is used in a biogas plant.
VCs are noticing
Of late, venture capitalists have started pouring money into the sector. During the 2018-2021 period, about US$1.4 billion was invested in food waste management startups around the world. But this amount is paltry when compared with the billions of dollars pouring into other food-tech verticals, such as food delivery and cloud kitchen.
Industry experts say that there is a lot of investor appetite in the food space around the world at the moment. Besides this, sustainability as an investment trend is popular at the moment and that will accelerate the capital flow into the sector.
June 17, 2021
