Food wastage in packet food may have turned off food stalls in Science Canteen; and rubbish disposal issue in Science Canteen.
I think it’s because they can’t estimate adequately how many people will buy their packet foods and are making losses. In the last academic year, I have noted many packets being left over at 2 pm, and it kind of pained me that the chicken rice stall helper was frequently still calling out/lelong at that timing.
I did not ask what would happen to these leftovers – maybe they would simply contribute to food wastage or be given away to the construction workers nearby. On Fridays, there were not as many 10 am-12 pm lectures, and as the weeks went by, more people start to pon lectures or skip school.
I also understand that the various packet food can go cold and dry easily, making it not so desirable, and sometimes I did not go for packet food because for example I wanted to add an egg to my chicken rice to make it more economically filling. Then, for the stallholders, I get the feeling that they might have not wanted to compromise the fact that some students might want to skip lunch, so they might have wanted to maintain producing more packet lunches than necessary to ensure that no students would starve themselves over waiting in long queues.
Overall, I suspect that some stalls such as the Korean stall might have gotten frustrated over being unable to adequately estimate the demand for their packet food and tolerate the amount of food wastage involved.
Perhaps some statistics/economics/CASE competition guy might be interested to solve this issue.
Food packet disposal issue:
Occasionally, I find that there is overfilling of trash in the bin (see photo). Hopefully, through NUSWhispers, people can stack the packets on the floor instead of overfilling the bin, or attempt to find another trash bin for the better. I used to have the experience of finding trash tearing through the huge plastic bag despite it being 2 layers due to the weight, although in this case it might not be as heavy but it’s not worth excusing the overfilling of the bin. Perhaps the Science Club can paste a kind reminder note there (I’m too shy/embarrassed to do it myself, and is why this post is anonymous too!).
I have sent my feedback from the typical email blasts regarding other issues but I feel like there are not much improvements. One significant issue IMO that I raised is the tray return station in the Science Canteen, which is terribly small and insufficient, when compared to the number of seaters (table/chairs). I suggested a new tray return stand to be made outside the Science Club area, and blast away the wall so that they can walk to the main rubbish disposal easily. Also, it was bad design that there was no lift or slope available for carrying the trash easily from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The last issue I raised was that the multi-purpose room only allowed packet food from 11-2 pm, because ironically there were not enough tables and chairs for non-packet foods. They should have extended to 3 pm, because I always find that the canteen is still crowded 2 -3 pm.
Source: Nuswhisper