Chongqing- On September 29, a press conference was released in Chongqing, with the topic of "Eating in a Civilised Way." The campaign of "Empty Plates" was taken into action against food waste.

"With the catering consumption rate recovering after the COVID-19 epidemic this year, the average daily collection and transportation of food waste in the central urban area of Chongqing in September decreased by 2.15% year-on-year to approximately 38 tons," said Dailiang Ma, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Director of the Municipal Civilisation Office. He thinks the city’s prevention of food waste and implementing the "Empty Plates" campaign have shown some initial results.

According to Ma, Chongqing has launched several activities to carry out the campaign of "Empty Plates," including standardizing meals in canteens of different organizations, advocating food waste reduction in the catering industry, and arranging "Empty Plates" related events among schools and institutions. The activities will successively apply to party and government agencies, enterprises and institutions, catering industry and enterprises, schools, and families through the Municipal Agency Affairs Bureau, Municipal Commission of Commerce, Municipal Education Working Committee, and Municipal Women’s Federation.

So far, all districts and counties in Chongqing have carried out over 1,000 "Empty Plates" related activities, covering more than 120,000 families to demonstrate frugality in family management. More than 3,000 public welfare publicity events were organized and conducted in progress, with a target of implementing measures to reduce food waste, guiding families to practice a simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyle, and maintaining a sense of crisis about food security.

Furthermore, to integrate the prevention of food waste behavior and habit formation of saving into the civilization creation activities, a group of exemplary company units and families, and another group of demonstration civilized dining units will be selected for praise. According to Ma, at present, 100 villages and towns, 100 units, 100 families, and 100 campuses have already taken the lead in fulfilling their commitments.

Ma also states that aggressive tactics have been necessary to reshape the way people think about their consumption habits. Through setting up an online platform through cq.wenming.cn, any waste behaviors will be monitored and criticized. Citizens are encouraged to follow the "Civilised Chongqing" WeChat official account, clicking on the menu bar "e-shooting," uploading text, pictures, and videos into the "exposure to bad habits" column to expose individual behaviors of food wasting and bad consumption habits. According to Ma, strict regulations forcing individuals and companies to recycle their food waste correctly also be applied in the near future.