Food wastage is clearly a problem in every part of the world. Whether you are in a developed country or in a developing country, food wastage would still be a problem. When my little sister and I were much younger, we used to constantly waste our food. Till this day, my sister still does waste her food, but she is learning to stop it. My mother would always get mad every time we don?t finish our food because we are ungrateful for the food that is being brought to our plates. When I was younger, people would always tell me that if I waste a single grain of rice, the farmers would cry. This made me stop. Nowadays, I only take the amount of food that I think is enough for me. If it is too little and I?m still hungry, I will take more later on.

As of the year 2013, Indonesia?s amount of food waste is higher than the amount of food they produce. This is due to the fact that there are a lot of food imports in Indonesia. This food waste is over three times higher than the amount of food consumed by the citizens. A few of the issues here consists of the excessive production of food that ends up going to waste. Another issue here is that Indonesia lacks the awareness of waste management so all wastes goes into the same bin without getting sorted into its own groups. 

The Government Regulation no. 81/2012 on the management of household waste has given out a regulation to separate waste at-source into 5 different categories. This policy was given out in the hopes that the citizens that are not used to sorting out their trash into different categories would soon adapt to the change and would sort out their waste as a habit. Unfortunately, this policy was a fail as they lacked awareness.

Food wastage in Indonesia is not only caused by the consumer, but it is also caused by the food lost during production. About 180 kg of food is lost during production for a person. Considering the population of Indonesia, that is a big number. 

It is suggested by The Jakarta Post that Indonesia?s government should provide subsides for organic food production. To the citizens of Indonesia, it is suggested that organic food should be considered. Even though the amount of organic food produced is less than the amount of conventional food produced, the production of organic food can be accelerated to meet the country?s demands. 

As to what we can do ourselves, I think we can do a few simple things that could reduce food wastage. As I said in the beginning of this report, I only take the amount of food I need. We can also give out the leftovers that we have in our house after a big party or a big gathering such as christmas dinner or just a gathering with your friends. We can give these food out to the beggars on the street. 

We should always remember that there are always people out there in need of food. Sometimes they can?t even find food for a day and they are forced to starve while we are being greedy with our food. I like to watch the road while I?m on my way to places and I sometimes see people searching for food scraps in a pile of rubbish. It breaks my heart to see such a scene so lets start with ourselves to make a difference. Bring home the meals you can?t finish in restaurants and give them away to the people who need food. As the motto of Green Team Indonesia says, ?Together, hand-in-hand, we can balance the world? and ?Spread the word of Kindness?. 

http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/the-big-footprint-of-food-waste

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/07/food-thought-food-waste.html