Oral Presentation RE project

1. Group 6 (1I) Group leader: Dexter Yeo( 25) Group members: Zeng Tianqi (26) David Zhang (27), Xia Chunqiu( 24) Oral Presentation RE project

2. The objective of our research project is to find what salvations there are to the food wastage situation McDonald's branch in Clementi. • In Singapore, while poor families need food urgently, 20-30 % of food is thrown away uneaten. Thus it is a very worrying problem. • Food becomes limited and prices spike, thus leading to problems when the poor families try to buy food. Governments would be forced to import more food, thus leading to an economical loss. Introduction

3. While there are many causes of food waste, thus there are many solutions to the different causes of food waste. • For example ,lack of storage space and bad customer psychology all cause food ways, but both of them have much different solutions. • Thus, it is important to find the cause of food waste first to help you find an effective solution. • For our hypothesis, we believed that physical constraints, like lack of storage space ,was the main cause of food waste, and thus were the solutions. Introduction

4. We went to the McDonald’s branch in Clementi during 3 , a non-rush hour period in the afternoon to randomly survey some people eating McDonald’s. • We also interviewed Mr Dan Hamill, who was the manager of the McDonald’s branch, so that his experience could help us in our project. • The objective of this time’s survey and interview would be to investigate not only the effect but also the cause of the customers and the managers wasting food. This would help us in our topic, how to solve the food wastage in Mc Donald's as we would learn about the people's mindsets when they waste food and how to set a different mindset to reduce food wastage. Procedure

5. Survey was done while customers were leaving as they would be irritated if we were to ask them while they were eating. • Response rate was 100%. • Informed consent was given through speech. • The interviews and surveys were successfully tested and validated and some classmates as interviewees and survey targets. • We had an advantage for the interview as the manager is our teammate’s mother’s friend, thus knowing each other will certainly lead to a more open discussion. Methodology

6. The monthly income of each household, whether they waste food, how often they eat McDonald's and why they eat McDonald's is asked ,so as to know what kind of people waste food the most and to aid us in further exploring ways to solve the food crisis. • Then, possible ways to curb food wastage is explored by asking them what they do with the waste food other than throwing them away. • Lastly, consumer psychology is explored when we ask them whether they support actions to curb food waste and whether they normally upsize their meal. Methodology

7. Results and Discussion The results below show that the amount of people who have not been able to finish their food is alarmingly high at one-third of all who go into the restaurant. Other graphs not in this Powerpoint also show that most of the people who have wasted food upsize their meal with a probality of about 75%. All these reveal there is a mindset problem with the customers.

8. Results and Discussion Lots of customers usually just throw their waste food away even though most are aware that they can take it away and eat it later, which they say is due to “difficulties”, showing there is a mindset problem with the customers.

9. Results and Discussion A lot of customers ask to upsize their meal, as revealed in the survey and interview but later waste the drinks, which are usually the last to eat in a meal, show that mindset of the teenagers and the middle-income households has contributed to food wastage.

10. The interview helped us to infer that teenagers were the main food-wasters. • It also confirmed that most people upsize their meal. • The manager revealed some physical constraints, like lack of storage and the humid weather in Singapore which contributes to food spoiling badly. He also points to transportation woes. • He finally talked about the mess that food waste and the birds and rats it attracts, and has put us on a new perspective on the consequences of food waste. • He showed us that there might be a mindset problem with the sellers as well ,as although food can still be eaten ,some is still wasted due to even a slight unfreshness. Results and Discussion

11. The results have shown that main food waste is caused more by consumer and seller mindset . • Most people do not plan how much food they are going to buy and eat, thus leading to an excess of food and food wastage. Seller mindset also matters, as some edible food is discarded because it is “not fresh”. • Thus, the possible salvations would be in education. The government can educate people through school and activities of food so as to make people appreciate food that they are eating, thus reducing food wastage. • These two kinds of psychology tend to spread and grow bigger along with Singapore's growing large restaurant businesses and new generation., thus it is becoming more and more of a problem. Final Analysis

12. While in project, we came up with the problem of where to choose for our investigation. Fortunately, one of our group mates has the McDonald’s manager as his mother’s close friend, so this was solved. • Group member relationship was cordial so we had very few disagreements or quarrels over the division of labour. Problems encountered and solved

13. Limitations include a breakdown of communications, as we encountered and thus it led to us being very ill-informed over who should do what. This slowed our group down and thus cost us many marks. • Laziness was also a problem which might have cost us lots of marks, mainly due to the ill-informedness and the lack of a proper time-keeper. Limitations

14. Solutions to some of the problems that I have identified are that a definite time for meeting could be arranged to decrease the communication breakdown and that phone numbers and emails could be clarified again so that we will not face such a breakdown in communications again. • A time-keeper could be used to remind people on the time and maybe also who should do what, so it will be very helpful. Suggestions for solution to problem

15. We would strive to interview someone with more expertise in this area, instead of a McDonald's manager. • We would also target our project on a very different group of people ,preferably in households and flats. Suggestions for extensions on project

16. We would like to thank all those who have participated in our survey, and particularly Mr Dan Hamill for being our interviewee and Mr Jai Singh for giving us valuable guidance in this project. • References: • Tay, E. National Environmental agency, (2011). Singapore waste statistics 2011. Singapore • Bain, J. (2011). Creative solutions to handle food waste. References and Acknowledgements

17. Questions Please! Thank You for Your Attention!