Mama4Planet Reduced Household Food Waste in Sleman, Indonesia

Food waste has emerged as one of the top environmental issues globally and become one of the Sustainable Development Goals 2050. A waste emergency status has been declared in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province in Indonesia, including in the Sleman Regency, where household waste has been prioritized. However, specific efforts on household food waste reduction had not been extensively explored in Sleman Regency.

Mama4Planet project aimed to raise awareness among mothers and empower female community health volunteers or “cadres” to stimulate food waste reduction efforts n Sleman Regency, Indonesia. Mothers are key actors in behavioral changes at the household level, but many have not been aware of the food waste generated and its consequences. Mama4Planet unlocked mothers’ potential by providing training of trainers (ToT) on household food waste reduction for local cadres, which was followed by cadre-led education sessions for mothers. Gamification activities were held to initiate and assist food waste reduction efforts at home among local mothers. The opening ceremony of Mama4Planet on October 16, 2022, was led by the Head of Sleman Regency and officially marked the support from the local government.

ToT for local cadres was held from October to November 2022, comprising 6 sessions with various food waste reduction topics, including the health and environmental impact of food waste, smart shopping, food storage, responsible food consumption, and at- home composting. The ToT was joined by 21 cadres covering 3 neighborhoods in Sleman Regency, and presented by national and local experts and advocates, such as the Indonesian Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Sleman Environmental Agency, Rapel as a local waste treatment start-up, and mothers’ local leader as an advocate for at-home waste management. The ToT was followed by 4 cadre-led education sessions attended by 86 local mothers across the neighborhoods. Trained cadres selected the subtopics on household food waste reduction and management for the sessions, created their own presentations, and acted as speakers in all sessions.

The last activity of the Mama4Planet project was gamification activities for mothers to initiate food waste reduction at home. About 35 mothers followed the gamification activities for at least 2 weeks and performed 3-day household waste weighing (i.e. Waste Analysis and Characterization Study) assisted by the Mama4Planet team prior to and at the end of gamification activities. Mothers obtained points for every food waste reduction activity and received winning badges when they received certain points, which were monitored through a live online scoreboard. Each participant also received an at- home composting kit. Apparently, composting was well-accepted among the mothers and was one of the most routinely performed. Mothers were also interested in meal planning, developing groceries lists, storing raw food properly, eating a healthy and balanced diet (locally called “Isi Piringku”), and reprocessing leftovers.

Through this women empowerment program, Mama4Planet was able to reduce food waste by 62.85% among the target population. All of these achievements signify that mothers are powerful agents of change in environmental sustainability and that any investments for their empowerment matter.