By Kylie Knott

Copyright scmp

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time when family and friends gather to celebrate the full moon, with food playing a major role in the celebrations.
Mooncakes – rich pastries filled with sweet or savoury fillings, often with a salted duck egg yolk in the middle to represent the full moon – are the stars of the festival, which this year starts on October 6.
Just like in previous years, Hong Kong’s bakeries and hotels have mooncake fever, with many releasing their own versions, while supermarket shelves are packed with the festive treats.
Giving mooncakes is a cherished Mid-Autumn Festival tradition, one that symbolises family reunion and appreciation. For most people, the issue of food waste does not enter their thoughts – but it should.
While millions of mooncakes are gifted, millions more are thrown away – an estimated 3.2 million are expected to go to waste this year, says Feeding Hong Kong, a charity on a mission to fight hunger in the city and reduce the amount of food sent to landfills.

To raise awareness about the waste, Feeding Hong Kong hosts “Mooncake Madness”, an annual food drive campaign. Since its 2018 launch, the campaign has turned surplus into social good by redistributing more than 225,000 mooncakes to senior centres, after-school clubs, crisis centres, charity kitchens, refugee centres and other non-profit programmes that provide food to vulnerable groups.
This year, it aims to ensure that the festive treats, along with essential meal parcels, reach more than 80 of its charity partners.
“While we love these tasty treats, many of us simply can’t eat the sheer quantities of mooncakes gifted to us,” says Feeding Hong Kong founder Gabrielle Kirstein.
Many are thrown out, and with more than 3,190 tonnes of food waste sent to Hong Kong’s landfills each day, “we simply cannot afford to add any more”, she adds.
“For those manufacturing or distributing mooncakes over the season, we’re on hand to help save and share any surplus stock by the case or pallet.”

To allow enough time to redistribute to its network of frontline charities, Feeding Hong Kong is asking people to make mooncake donations before the end of September.
“For individuals, we have 31 community collection points spread across Hong Kong, where boxes of mooncakes can easily be dropped off.”
Whether a food company or an individual, Kirstein says that donating surplus mooncakes is an act that helps reduce waste and brings joy to thousands of families who would otherwise not get to share in these festive treats.
“Last year, our Mooncake Madness campaign put smiles on over 70,000 faces,” she says. “Our Mooncake Madness drive is aligned with our Festive Food Parcel programme, where we share extra special food parcels over the festive season.
“Every donation of HK$175 [US$22] will support the delivery of one Mid-Autumn parcel, which includes shelf-stable foods such as rice, noodles and canned goods.”

Also lending a helping hand this Mid-Autumn Festival is Food Grace, a Hong Kong non-governmental organisation that promotes food recycling and green living. A mooncake recycling campaign is one of its key activities around the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“We set up recycling points in over 200 housing estates and shopping malls across Hong Kong’s 18 districts, encouraging donations of surplus food and mooncakes from the public,” says Polly Siu, Food Grace’s project officer for corporate engagement and communication.
“These public recycling points are in accessible locations such as shopping malls, housing estates and companies with retail stores, making it easy for the public to donate leftover food and mooncakes.
“All donated mooncakes and food items are given to individuals and families in need, including low-income families, people with disabilities, single or elderly people living alone, and social welfare organisations.”
Siu adds that more than 230,000 mooncakes have been distributed to families in need in the past decade.
Hanuman Charity, a Hong Kong NGO that was founded during the Covid-19 pandemic by Naveen (Nick) Sadhwani and his daughters, is also playing a role in this.

Sadhwani says the charity’s mooncake donation drive is not just about alleviating waste, but also helps foster community connections with the underprivileged.
“This year, as we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, we are once again collecting mooncakes to bring joy to our community,” says Sadhwani.
“If you would like to contribute and share the festive spirit, please reach out to us to find out where you can deliver your mooncake donations.”
He adds that it is best to direct message their Instagram account @hanuman.charity to find out more details.
Sadhwani says donating mooncakes helps support those experiencing homelessness and the underprivileged, including elderly cardboard collectors and community cleaners.
It is much needed. Poverty and the wealth gap remain significant issues in Hong Kong, with more than 20 per cent of households in poverty and the gap between the rich and poor widening considerably.
And it is not just food waste that is a problem during the festival.
“The beautiful yet extravagant packaging that many mooncakes are sold in can also end up in landfill,” says Kirstein, adding that many packaging components are challenging to recycle.
Helping to deal with the packaging problem is Hong Kong environmental non-profit Greeners Action, which organises a mooncake box recycling programme each year.

The organisation, previously known as the Green Student Council, has run the programme for many years, recycling more than 70,000 mooncake boxes over its history.
Kirstein says it is important that the city comes together during the festival “to ensure that no mooncake goes to waste and that no person in Hong Kong goes without”.
“This [Mooncake Madness] campaign is a chance for everyone to get involved and make a real difference, while learning about the importance of food sustainability,” she says.
“By repurposing these festive treats, we not only reduce waste but also bring the spirit of the season to those in need – it’s a practical and very tasty solution.”
Feeding Hong Kong’s Mooncake Madness
Food companies
As a business-to-business logistics service for quality surplus food, Feeding Hong Kong can handle case and pallet loads of donations. Contact feedinghk.org to arrange.
General public
Drop mooncake donations at Feeding Hong Kong, or at one of its Feeding Hong Kong drop-off points. The Feeding Hong Kong address is: Unit 715-717, Block A2, Yau Tong Industrial City, 17-25 Ko Fai Road, Yau Tong, Kowloon. To support the Mooncake Madness campaign, donate here.
For Food Grace, either deliver mooncakes to Food Grace at 9/F, Henry Centre, 131 Wo Yi Hop Road, Kwai Chung, or donate mooncakes at Food Grace’s various public collection points.