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In 2020, a whopping 665,000 tonnes of food waste was generated in Singapore. This alarming number might have been a motivating factor for Spring Brainy Kidz @ Potong Pasir to center their Start Small Dream Big (SSDB) project on reducing food wastage.
The project, ‘Minimising Food Wastage starts with ME’, aims to educate children on the perils of food wastage and allow them to better value their meals. This is in hope that the students will carry this sustainable practice to adulthood.
The children will first be introduced to food wastage reduction methods such as how to maximise the lifespan of consumption products. Subsequently, their knowledge will be put to the test and will have to carry out what they’ve learnt in the form of home projects. For example, they will attempt to habituate the act of creating a shopping list prior to grocery shopping. To track progression, the preschool has enlisted a ‘food critic’ to check monthly if their efforts have made any impact on the food wastage within the Centre.
Another activity the children were engaged with was attending a 360-degree virtual farm tour that allowed them to explore the grounds of a farm to understand better where the source of their food comes from.
Spring Brainy Kidz @ Potong Pasir says there is a trickle-down effect at work: once the children are equipped with such knowledge, they will go home and pass it on to the adults in their lives. Moving forward, as they grow into adults themselves they can also teach the next generation proper food wastage reduction techniques.
The centre cites that Preschool Market reached out and supported them throughout the course of the project. Through this contact, they were able to get linked with Helping Joy – an organization that aids lower income people in Singapore.
Commenting on the current pandemic situation, Ms Jay Mano, the Regional Principal of Spring Brainy Kidz says, “Due to the pandemic, people from all kinds of backgrounds are affected. Hence, we see the importance of delivering this message of Minimising Food Waste especially when people are losing their income and that we should be thankful for the food served on our table. Just like what Dana Cowin shared, ‘If we could stop wasting food, imagine how many people we could feed!’”