[PRESS RELEASE] Business Strategy and Digital Technology: Food Waste Management for Sustainable Environment within “Surplus”| Decision #7

Yogyakarta, September 22, 2023 – Food waste is still considered a big threat in Indonesia. According to Bappenas, as much as 23-48 million tonnes of food is wasted in a year, which is equivalent to a loss of 200-500 trillion rupiah. Not only to mention that Indonesia is the 2nd largest contributor to food waste worldwide. With the significant impact being explained, food waste is undeniably a critical problem that needs to be addressed now or never. Hence, CfDS invited Surplus through Decision #7 entitled “Technology for Sustainable Food Waste Prevention”. This talk show invited Alya Fatina Diandari (Chief Marketing Officer of Surplus Indonesia) as a speaker, moderated by Allysa Putri Rendry (Partnership Assistant CfDS).

Taking a look at how impaired our food waste management is, Alya believes that it is crucial to involve digital technology in troubleshooting this issue. Therefore, Surplus aims to reduce the threat of food waste by purchasing excess food stock that is still safe and edible. 

“Through multi-party collaboration with restaurants, hotels, MSMEs, food and beverage businesses, our main objective is to save food from being wasted,” said Alya.

As a solution to the problem, Surplus is taking an approach that focuses on both its customers and merchants. Through the apps, users can take part in preserving the environment by purchasing food that is cheaper and still edible. Furthermore, merchants will also get a marginal profit of 50% from discounts on food sales before closing time.

The digitalization aspect enforced by Surplus is not only for addressing food waste but also a form of business sustainability and a green economy. According to Alya, a sustainable business is not only for gaining profit but also for being able to provide social, economic, and environmental values in its business strategy. This consistently needs to be carried out within stakeholders to attain positive impacts for world sustainability and other crucial aspects.

“Waste management, specifically for food waste, is a shared responsibility. A multi-stakeholder collaboration within the government, businesses, society and ourselves is required to work on the issue of food waste in Indonesia,” concluded Alya.