Mon, May 09, 2016 page3

• FEATURE: Taipei, Taichung residents set up local food banks

  TAKING INITIATIVE: A food bank in Taipei gives out bank books to people in need with points to spend on food and lets them earn points by doing volunteer work

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  Various Cabinet agencies last month held a meeting with representatives from the six special municipalities on how to tackle the issue of food waste.

  According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year, about one-third of the food produced globally for human consumption — about 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted, and if only one-quarter of it could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million people.

  The FAO’s fact list on global food loss and waste showed that about 40 percent of food losses occur at post-harvest and processing levels in developing nations, while more than 40 percent of losses happen at retail and consumer levels in developed nations, where large quantities are wasted due to quality standards that overemphasize appearance.

  Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) data showed about 13,000 tonnes of expired food from markets and convenience stores, as well as about 35,000 tonnes of leftovers, are disposed of as waste every year in Taiwan.

  EPA Department of Waste Management Director Wu Sheng-chung (吳盛忠) said that in convenience stores, 92 percent of food products that have passed their expiration date end up as waste, while the ratio is 72 percent in hypermarkets, 69 percent in supermarkets and 80 percent in restaurants.

  As the EPA and the Ministry of Health and Welfare are to initiate joint inspections at food vendors to make sure expired food is handled properly, starting this month, the agencies are also to make efforts to reduce waste food by encouraging venues to set up special discount sections for products that approach their expiration dates or donate the items to food banks before they expire.

  Citing 2010 EPA data that showed that 2.75 million tonnes of food goes to waste in Taiwan each year, New Power Party legislators Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) and Freddy Lim (林昶佐) last month proposed a draft bill on setting up food banks across the nation.

  A “courtesy food exchange platform” was established at Taichung’s Wuqi (梧棲) First Public Retail Market in March, in which unsold food items are collected from market stalls and cooked into hot meals by volunteers at community development associations for low-income older people.

  Wuqi is the fifth public market in Taichung, in addition to Wufeng (霧峰), Fengyuan (豐原), Fuan (福安) and Taiping (太平) markets, that has set up a food collecting platform.

  The city’s Social Affairs Bureau also collaborated with the private sector to provide free food at three food banks and 30 distribution stations to people in need of help, feeding about 2,300 households every month.

  Taichung became the first city in the nation to pass local regulations on food banks on Jan. 18, aimed at reducing waste and creating a better social safety net through the establishment of food banks.

  In Taipei, where the city’s Social Welfare Department has not put as much resources into funding food banks, a borough warden established a community food bank with the help of local residents and volunteers.

  The Nanjichang Food Bank, part of the Zhen Ji Xiang Social Services Association, was established in December 2013 in Zhongzheng District’s (中正) Zhongqin Borough (忠勤), a declining area in the city with many low-income residents, single-parent families and elderly people living alone.

  Borough Warden Fang He-shen (方荷生), who grew up in the Nanjichang Residences, said he had the idea of establishing the food bank a few years ago when he visited a low-income elderly resident and saw bags of unfinished charity rice that had attracted weevils.

  Fang said that as a way to give people the items that they need and reduce wasted food, he began raising funds, collecting groceries and daily necessities and recruiting volunteers.

  He said he obtained permission from the government to renovate an abandoned post office for the food bank.

  In the food bank, visitors are met with shelves of neatly stacked food items — mainly dried noodles, rice, milk powder, sauce, canned food and daily necessities, including diapers, soap, shampoo and detergents — reminiscent of a small grocery shop.

  Cheng Chun-wei (程俊威), executive officer of the food bank, said that instead of providing free food to people, the food bank operates on a membership program that gives each member — low and lower middle-income households — a book with 500 points every month to exchange for items they select, adding that they can earn more points by contributing to the community.

  The books keep record of all the items taken by the members, so that social welfare groups can determine what the members need most.

  Items in the bank cost about one-third of their original market prices and products near expiration date are placed on a separate shelf for members to take for free.

  Members can earn extra points by volunteering at the community center and public events, or by delivering food to older people who live alone.

  “The borough’s population is about 7,000 people and about 22 percent are older people, but the average percentage of older people in Taipei is only about 13 percent, and there are about 300 low and lower-middle income households,” he said. “We have more than 200 members.”

  Cheng said all items in the bank are donated by the public, but the bank also cooperates with a supermarket, setting up a cart near the checkout counters for consumers to put in the items they want to donate.

  Cheng said that if people donate fresh food directly to the bank, volunteers bring them to a community center and have a chef prepare meals for children and older people, adding that they also deliver meals to older people living alone, as well as provide cheap take-out meal boxes.

  He said the food bank and the community center have also served as public spaces where local residents get to interact with each other, adding that if they find out that another resident is missing or has fallen ill, they report to the borough warden, so that the people in need can be visited at home.

  Cheng said that a young woman came to work in the city, but suddenly fell ill, lost her job and her savings, and sought help from the district office, which directed her to the bank, where she exchanged her points for food and showed sincere gratitude, adding that the woman gradually recovered and was able to earn a living again.

  He said the case left a deep impression on him of how food banks can help people overcome desperate situations.
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