The last day of the Hungry Ghost Month on Sep. 16 saw the ashes of hell notes piled up in bins, sticks of candles lit up at roadsides and pavements, and as one group of Singaporeans discovered, plenty of leftover fruits and food from offerings for the departed.

One group, comprising Singaporean Daniel Tay and some friends, who are self-proclaimed "freegans" — individuals who reject consumerism and seek to reduce waste — went on a hunt to rescue food leftover outside.

Successful orange hunt

Previously on Sep. 2, Tay and others went on an "impromptu orange hunt".

The hunt proved to be quite a success with Tay finding 122 oranges, two pineapples, two apples, and a bunch of bananas — a 50 per cent improvement on their haul from a previous night.

On Wednesday, the group recovered even more leftover food.

This was what they managed to collect in roughly eight hours and 42 minutes.

• 524 oranges

• 108 apples

• 2 pineapples

• 24 bananas

• 24 rambutans

• 146 duku and longans

• 178 sweets

• 12 otak-otak & misc

• 5 pears

Here's a documentation of how much they rescued.

Tay added that this meant they managed to collect an average of 2.7 oranges per minute, higher than the average of one orange per minute during their "hunt" two weeks ago.

Tay said that this was a new record for their "orange hunt".

In his post, Tay also shared some tips on how to raise their efficiency at collecting oranges.

This includes bringing shopping bags or baskets, having walkie-talkies to communicate with each other, and visiting areas that they are familiar with.

He stated that the food can be removed once the lighted incense has burned out, as that meant that "our friends from another world" have already finished eating.

However, one should still thank the spirits.

Related stories

Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here

Top photo from Daniel Tay / FB