According to a report published by The Star, 3,000 metric tons of food are being disposed daily by Malaysian consumers. There is a need for us to be educated on the significant impacts of food wastage to the environment and the economy. In view of addressing the devastating effects of this issue, a group of students from the MSc in International Business Communications programme organized a “Food Waste Management and Opportunities” Campaign, as part of their assignment for the Planning Business Communication Campaigns module recently.
The campaign commenced with a research that was conducted within our cafeteria, as well as the display of “Clean Plate Challenge” posters at the campus screens and the counters, to raise awareness of this issue. The students conducted an observation over 3 weeks during lunch hours, and it was found that 21.9% of patrons have wasted food over their lunch times at APU, leaving us with only 78.1% of “Clean Plates” over the campaign.
The next stage of the campaign followed by a professional talk by industry experts, who are experienced in dealing with food wastage within the industry. Ms Mae Ooi, Sales Director of Bio Genetics from Maeko; Mr Philip Dodd, Team Leader, Outreach & Education from The Lost Food Project; and Ms. Chen Ching Yee, Operations Executive from Grub Cycle conducted the talk, exposing the audience to huge potentials and significant initiatives that can be participated by members of the public, the private sector as well as the government sector.
It was a comprehensive effort by the students to address the alarming issue; throughout the process of planning and executing the campaign, the group of students managing to put their skills into practice, as part of their hands-on training to be future events planning and marketing communications professionals. In addition, it was also a wake-up call for all of us – let’s put in effort together and let’s start to play our part in reducing global food wastage.
Kudos, students, for pulling this meaningful campaign together!
