‘Bazar’, the Malay language equivalent for bazaar, is only one letter away from ‘Bazir’, meaning waste. Hence, #BazirRamadan was born. In 2024 alone, more than 60,000 kg of food was wasted at 147 Ramadan bazaars, enough to feed 120,000 people.
So this year, taking inspiration from the Malay slang term ‘pesen’—meaning habit or style and also a derivation from the word ‘fashion’—the organisation debuted the trashiest avant-garde collection to make a bold fashion statement against food waste, just like how local fashion houses launch a new baju Raya collection each year.
The #BazirRamadan collection was launched via a red-carpeted ‘trashwalk’ featuring Brozir, our spokesperson, and his friends strutting down the Pantai Dalam Ramadan Bazaar in a specially-designed suit made out of discarded food waste from bazaars.
“Food waste during Ramadan has always been a long-standing issue. People know of it, but not many have done something about it. That’s why we took a bold approach with this stunt to bring attention to the issue,” said Ainul A’syara binti Kamal, deputy director of MySaveFood.
“MYSaveFood has been working with vendors at Ramadan bazaars for the past 9 years to salvage unsold food from bazaars as an effort to reduce food waste. As of 16th March 2025, our volunteers have collected 46,208 kg of unsold food from 108 bazaars around Malaysia, equivalent to RM599,100 in value. This surplus food is then distributed to those in need,” she concluded.
MYSaveFood is still actively recruiting volunteers via the #BazirRamadan initiative to help distribute surplus meals collected from Ramadan bazaars to the less fortunate.
For further information, visit www.bazirramadan.com
