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Beijing: Chinese netizens have launched an online campaign against waste on dining
tables, calling for people to take leftover food home after
banquets and take action to curb waste.
Dubbed "Eating up your dishes", the move not only echoes the
central government's calls for putting an end to extravagant
official banquets, but also reflects citizens' awareness of waste
on dining tables.
With the Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar new year, approaching,
the unofficial campaign has became a hot topic online, reported
Xinhua.
"It will be a time for curbing banquet waste," "Haiyuyiliu" wrote
on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, adding that not letting food go to
waste will be the most fashionable way to celebrate the festival
this year.
"Haiyuyiliu" is not alone in these sentiments. Many netizens have
been outraged by a photo slideshow posted by Xinhua photographers
on Sina Weibo of extravagant banquets where untouched food was
tossed into garbage cans in the south China metropolis of
Guangzhou.
For Sina Weibo users, these pictures stand in stark contrast to
the last photo of the series, which is of 70-year-old farmer Wang
Yizhong, who lives in poverty-stricken Gansu province in northwest
China and can only afford to eat meat about 10 times a year.
The People's Daily's official Sina Weibo account echoed the call
for frugality by inviting more people to join the "eating up your
dishes" movement, deeming it an honourable act and a show of
self-respect.
Statistics show that China wastes 50 million tonnes of grain
annually, accounting for one-tenth of the country's total grain
output. It is also estimated that enough food to feed 200 million
people, about one-sixth of the country's population, goes to waste
annually.
In southwest China's Guizhou province, one of the country's
poorest provinces, about 5 million people received government food
provisions in 2012.
Professor Zhou Xiaozheng of Renmin University pointed out that in
curbing waste on dining tables, the priority should be put on
restricting government spending on receptions.
Yuan Longping, an agriculture scientist, has even suggested the
government move to criminalize such waste.
"China has a large population and little arable land, and we
scientists have worked so hard to improve rice harvests. But after
production was increased, people wasted it," Yuan said in an
interview with China Central Television (CCTV) Wednesday, adding
that he proposes the government enact regulations to treat food
waste as a crime.
Chen Daifu, a delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC),
China's top legislature, shares Yuan's thoughts.
Chen told Xinhua that he and other delegates have proposed a law
to curb and prevent food waste, as well as punish those
responsible for wasting food.
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