GEORGE TOWN: Studies have shown that food waste increases between 15 and 20 per cent during Ramadan compared to the average in other months.
The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) said, last year, as much as 90,000 tonnes of food was trashed throughout the country during Ramadan.
As such, CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader has called on the public not to waste food, as a large portion of it will wind up in landfills.
"Let us resolve to make this Ramadan more meaningful and spiritually enriching.
"Avoid breaking fast in hotels and instead break fast in your homes or mosque with your family members and friends.
"Invite your non-Muslim neighbours to break fast with you. This way, we build goodwill and understanding among Malaysians," he said today.
Muslims in Malaysia begin fasting today.
Elaborating, Mohideen said Ramadan was supposed to be a month of intense devotion for Muslims.
"But for some, it has become a month of feasting and wasteful spending.
"Traditionally in the home with family members or in the mosque in a spiritual environment, it has since been turned into a 'feast with a 100-dish spread' in hotels and restaurants.
"It has turned into a source of profits for these enterprises.
"Islam enjoins its followers to avoid gluttony, waste and extravagance," he added, noting that gluttony also had serious adverse health effects – diabetes, coronary diseases, and hypertension – on those indulging in it.
Mohideen said throwing away food was a sin since it deprived the needy and future generations.
He noted that it also depleted resources and contributed to environmental degradation through the pollution of seas and rivers and the discharge of carbon dioxide, which is responsible for global warming.
"One of the objects of fasting is to feel the pain of hunger experienced by the poor and marginalised so that we will have empathy for them.
"Now, more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation. So, we should not be throwing away huge quantities of food in the holy month.
"The rich should share their wealth with the poor and needy instead of indulging in an ostentatious way of life.
"Use your wealth to lift the poor and marginalised out of poverty and injustice, and to support noble causes," he said.