Vanessa Hwang founded the charity Foodlink Foundation ten years ago to tackle the problem of food wastage as she learnt that high-end restaurants she so regularly dines in were disposing the untouched food, and that the lavish display of food seen in buffets are put in the bin if unfinished.

"It's very shameful, but Hong Kong has been ranked number one food wastage in Asia, 3,200 tonnes of waste is thrown away a day," says Hwang. "and of that 40 per cent is food, which can actually feed 48,000 per day". Her job, as she explains, is to join the dots: she takes the food that would otherwise be disposed of from the hotels and restaurants, to the charities that shelter and care for people without food.

Today, 10 charities including Home of Love, Christian Action, Operational Dawn, Chungking Ministries are all recipients to the food that Foodlink delivers, and hoteliers and restaurants who have signed on for the charitable cause include The Shangri-La Group, The Langham Hotels, The Royal Garden, The Grand Hyatt, and of course, her family business, The Parkview Group.

We catch her in one of her annual fundraisers, The Foodlink Charity Bazaar, and speak to her about her cause, experiences, and learn just how serious a problem we have at hand.

For more information on Foodlink, visit www.foodlinkfoundation.org