INTRODUCTION

Tee Yih Jia (TYJ) is one of Singapore’s largest food manufacturers, blending tradition with innovation to deliver scalable convenience to the world. Our diverse range of Asian frozen foods includes spring roll pastry, paratha, glutinous rice balls, dim sum, buns, plant-based offerings, and customised finished products – proudly distributed to over 80 countries worldwide.

Background

TYJ produce these at scale, and that scale creates a unique opportunity. Every day, over 500,000 kg of pastry is produced for spring rolls, popiah, and other wrapped products. This large-scale production generates a steady stream of flour-and-water-based pastry waste – primarily from dough trimmings, offcuts, and shape rejects – amounting to 80,000kg daily. Although this waste is pre-consumer and relatively clean, it is rarely reused or upcycled, leading to unnecessary disposal costs and lost value.

While bread waste, for example, has been successfully transformed into beer, snacks, and bio-based materials, innovation around thin dough waste remains limited. Yet, this underutilised by-product presents a clear opportunity for valorisation – from snack development and ingredient reuse to serving as feedstock for sustainable protein or fermentation processes. Unlocking these new value streams supports Singapore’s circular economy goals and opens up new pathways for more sustainable food manufacturing.