More than seven in ten Hong Kong residents receive more mooncakes than they want each Mid-Autumn Festival, a new survey reveals, driving millions of uneaten pastries to landfills and prompting calls to rethink a custom built on obligation rather than appetite.
The findings come from a digital poll of roughly 25,000 users of Yindii, a Hong Kong-based surplus food marketplace, conducted in September 2026. The survey found that 72% of respondents said they get more mooncakes than they can eat, while only 14% would actually choose a traditional box of mooncakes as their ideal gift. The gap between generous giving and tepid demand has been dubbed the city’s “Mooncake Paradox.”
Waste Goes Beyond Awkwardness
Nearly 80% of households reported having leftover mooncakes after past festivals, and 22% admitted throwing away unopened, still-edible boxes.
The numbers add up fast. Advocacy group Feeding Hong Kong estimates that 2.8 million mooncakes go uneaten annually across the city. The charity runs an annual “Mooncake Madness” collection drive through Sept. 18, gathering sealed surplus pastries for redistribution to frontline charities.
Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department recorded roughly 3,001 tonnes of food waste sent to landfills daily in 2024, accounting for nearly 30% of the city’s municipal solid waste — a crisis the seasonal mooncake glut only worsens.
Why Gift-Giving Persists
If nobody wants them, why do mooncakes keep changing hands by the millions?
The tradition functions less as a treat and more as a social obligation. Companies give them to staff and clients; relatives use them to mark the reunion festival; neighbors and colleagues exchange them to maintain goodwill. Because the gesture matters more than the taste, boxes often pile up in duplicate — multiple employers, relatives and friends all delivering pastries within the same week, far exceeding what any household can realistically consume before they go stale.
“Giving more mooncakes doesn’t necessarily make the gesture more meaningful,” said Mahima Rajangam Natarajan, Yindii’s co-founder. She described the problem as a mismatch of intentions: the real issue lies in how many are given, how many people actually want, and what happens to the surplus.
A Growing Market for ‘Rescued’ Mooncakes
The survey also found openness to alternatives. When asked whether they would buy good-quality, safe-to-eat surplus mooncakes from hotels, bakeries or retailers at a discount, 36% said yes and another 45% said maybe — meaning 81% did not rule it out.
That appetite has already created a modest secondary market. Apps like Yindii allow bakeries and hotels to sell unsold mooncakes and other food as discounted “surprise bags.” The company says its platform has rescued more than 500,000 meals in Hong Kong and helped merchants recover about HK$17 million in value from food that would otherwise go to waste. Natarajan noted that price, not just environmental appeal, drives most purchases.
Retailers Shift to Smaller, Smarter Boxes
This year’s mooncake offerings from Hong Kong hotels and bakeries reflect the changing sentiment. Many are introducing smaller formats, mini portions of four or six pieces, and gift sets designed as reusable packaging — lantern-style tins meant to be kept long after the festival. Novelty collaborations, low-sugar recipes and non-mooncake alternatives such as chocolates, palmiers and tea sets have multiplied, giving gift-givers ways to celebrate without adding to the stockpile of traditional lotus-paste boxes.
Preserving the Spirit Without the Surplus
Mooncakes remain deeply embedded in Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival, and few expect the custom to disappear. But the survey results point to a shift in what “generosity” may need to look like going forward: smaller quantities, more flexible gift formats and better outlets for surplus before it becomes waste.
As Natarajan put it, the challenge for this year and beyond is finding a way to preserve the festival’s core values — reunion, appreciation, generosity — without the mounting pile of boxes nobody asked for.