Consumerism

http://www.savefoodcutwaste.com/food-waste/food-wastage-in-singapore/

http://www.nea.gov.sg/energy-waste/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling
Yes, I do believe that our society leads to a consumerist lifestyle.
Food waste is created in Singapore every single day from our food cycle – production, distribution, retail to consumption
In 2016, Singapore’s food wastage was at 679,900 tonnes. Recycling of food was only 14% of the food wastage.

Some causes of food wastage includes cosmetic filtering, business practices, cultural practices, etc.

Cosmetic filtering:
Occurs in farms, wholesale and wet markets, supermarkets to homes, where food that looks “ugly”, damaged or less than perfect according to market or personal standards are discarded even if it’s edible.
Every day, 250 vegetable sellers at a market in Pasir Panjang spend dusk to dawn trimming, preening and discarding “ugly” vegetables to prepare them for sale to hawkers and wet market sellers.
The criteria: vegetables must be free of pest marks, be in the right shade of colour and not look too ripe.
“Of course I’ve to make my vegetables look nice. If not, who will buy them?” says stall owner Albert Li, 60.
He estimates about one-third of all vegetables at the wholesale market get thrown away for not meeting the mark.
Based on our observations at food waste recycling company IUT Global, the market discards up to 30,000 kilos of unwanted vegetable parts and blemished fruits every day.
– The Era Of Supermarkets, Food Waste Republic

Business practices
Food wastage occurs in food stalls and restaurants when staff and chefs are not properly trained or managed resulting in badly cooked food, or when chefs don’t see the need to cook less and save money for the boss. In addition, improper inventory management where chefs order more instead of less to play safe, also results in food wastage.
There is also the problem of the full-shelf display for most bakeries and cafes:
“It is a universal technique for retailers to display large quantities of goods in their stores to generate interest and excitement and to increase the likelihood of purchasing,” says retail expert Lynda Wee, 46. …
But when the cakes and bread are unsold, it is common for the food to be thrown away at the end of the day.
Food From The Heart, a voluntary welfare organisation that channels unwanted bread from hotels and bakeries to needy families and individuals, collects approximately $150,000 worth of unsold bread and buns monthly. The volume of bread collected fills up around 900 supermarket trolleys.
– The Missing Profits, Food Waste Republic

Cultural practices
Asians tend to provide an abundance of food to guests, and at social or festive events such as wedding banquets and annual dinner and dance events, it is common to see guests unable to finish the eight or nine-course dinner, and thus wasting food.
It is also common to see food waste at buffets, where the all-you-can-eat concept see customers take more food than they can finish. At least 10 to 20% of prepared food goes to waste.
When guests or customers at restaurants can’t finish their food and there are leftovers, some people find it embarrassing to doggie-bag the food as the practice is seen to go against social norms.

Consumerism culture results in environmental impacts such as toxic byproducts produced and land pollution. It is also a contributing factor to poverty and hunger globally.
There are also social impacts such as the unfair treatment of workers.