KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — After a new legislation was implemented in April that fines restaurants and their customers for excessive food leftovers, China’s central government has been focused on reducing food waste.
As an effort to reduce food waste, a private school principal decided to create awareness among his students while highlighting the importance of meals in life.
The 58-year-old principal, Wang Yongxin, ate all the leftovers at the school cafeteria to warn them against food waste.
A video of the incident showed Wang waiting by the cafeteria trash bin and blocking the students from disposing of their remnants, while eating the leftovers.
According to India Times, the students who saw him eating their unfinished food, were embarrassed and sought to finish their meals after being advised not to throw it out.
The principal also explained that he has been eating his three daily meals from students’ leftovers since last week.
Wang added that he ate the unfinished lunches of seven students during lunch break last week.
“I want to be a role model for my children, showing them that food wasting is bad. My approach has astonished not just the students, but also the educators.
“When they saw me eating their classmates’ leftovers, some kids finished their meals. Now some of the students are informing the staff how much food they need, which helps to decrease food waste,” he added.
Aside from complimenting him for thinking outside the box in order to minimise food waste, other people are concerned about the potential health hazards, reported India Times.
“It’s good to be frugal, but eating others’ leftovers is a bad example for epidemic control. Maybe they should think of other ways to educate the students,” one Weibo user said.
However, Wang was unconcerned about those negative comments because the food was made in the same kitchen.
He also said that he considered his students as his own children, therefore he didn’t mind to eat their unfinished meals for a good purpose.
“It’s all from the same kitchen. All the students and teachers eat here. I regard the kids as my own, so there is no boundary in my mind,” he said.
