Selangor, 12 September 2018 

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that in Malaysia, the amount of food wasted is about 15,000 tonnes per year and for scale, the Petronas Twin Towers can be filled up in just 18 days with these foods gone to waste. Food wastage is a major concern as it emits greenhouse gasses such as methane, which contributes to global warming. Taking note of the severity of this issue, AEON hopes to combat food wastage by launching the AEON Community Food Share programme.

The AEON Community Food Share Programme is organised in line with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs’ call to reduce wastage, as well as to share food and resources with the underprivileged communities on a daily basis. To achieve this, AEON CO. (M) BHD. has teamed up with the Kechara Soup Kitchen to distribute a healthy amount of food to selected homes and soup kitchens daily. It will kickstart in AEON Cheras Selatan and from there, extend to all AEON Malls and Stores across the country.

Officiated by Y.B. Dato’ Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs; Selangor Princess Yang Amat Mulia Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah binti Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah who is a regular volunteer at the Kechara Soup Kitchen with her very own waste reduction campaign called #zerofoodwastage; and Shinobu Washizawa, Managing Director of AEON CO. (M) BHD. The launch event consisted of unsold consumable foods from AEON Cheras Selatan being prepared and delivered to various welfare homes in close proximity to the mall.

At the event, Washizawa said: “We understand the challenges faced by the underprivileged community, which is why the AEON Community Food Share programme is a testament to our commitment to the community. We believe by looking out for the greater good of many, there will be more growth in the community and society as a whole. Furthermore, the Community Food Share programme indirectly allows AEON to be aligned with one of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals, which is to focus on moving towards zero hunger.”

Justin Cheah, Project Director, Kechara Soup Kitchen said: “To effectively channel unsold food to the less fortunate, we work closely with organisations and corporations such as AEON to populate our food bank. We are excited to work with AEON on this and look forward to expanding the scope of this programme where we have been helping thousands of underprivileged people for the past 15 years.”

In addition to AEON’s continuous effort for the community, the company has also decided to alleviate the burden of SST by introducing the “Price Lock” initiative where prices remain unchanged from 1 to 30 September 2018 to allow our customers to adjust to the SST implementation.*

*‘Price Lock’ – the prices of AEON goods remain unchanged from 1 to 30 September 2018, except for promotional items before September 2018, including, but not limited to defective food found in its food courts, Delicatessen, La Boheme, items below control prices such as cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol, as well as several categories of goods subject to 6% SST rules.