28/03/2016 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

New cutting-edge virtual reality headsets start shipping today. Is

that the future finally here or just the beginning. And we'll take a look

at mountains of food wasted every year and the smart bins that might

change that. Welcome to this Monday edition of Asia Business Report.

This morning will see the first ever delivery of consumer virtual reality

headset. The oculus rift has been long in the making and was initially

crowd funded but was then bought by the giant, Facebook. It is making

its way to 20 market. The gaming community is likely to be the first

target but the potential goes far beyond that. Will it take off. That

is the question I put to an expert. 3-D TV was supposed to be the next

thing and it never took off. There is a lot of risk but I think this

will do well in the gaming. But definitely Facebook would not have

bought it if they did not think it was going to be ubiquitous

communication. It is up against quite a lot of competition, so how

will it do? It will probably do very well. There are virtually arty --

virtual reality headsets on the market. This is technology that goes

will be on the gaming community. There are specific industry

applications. Obviously, the big thing will be asked using it for

communication. And seeing though it is brand-new technology, most people

have not even heard of it apart from science fiction films, will it take

off? It will definitely take off because gamers will have one first.

It is such a big platform to promote it and I would be surprised if

people do not have one lying around the house. TV watching has moved and

it might move to immerse yourself in that world. In other business moves

at bailout deal the troubled Japanese and trucks giant has

finally been decided this morning. It has been a in talks with a

Taiwanese company. The deal is more than originally planned. US economic

growth slowed in the last three months of 2015 but not as sharply as

previously estimated. That is according to the latest statistics

show in consumer spending was strong. The world biggest economy

grew by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. We are a throwaway planet and study

suggest that 30 to 40% of what is grown in the United States ends up

rotting or thrown away in landfill. That is what hundreds A.D3 billion

pounds of food which is more than enough to feed the world 's hungry.

According to China it is creating more waste due to its large

population. So what more can be done? The waste we humans make. And

every day 13,000 tons of garbage from the citizens get dumped on

landfill site. It is not as bad as it was. The waste left has fallen

dramatically down from 35,000 tons a day. It is a third of what it was.

How has the city done it? Here is one of the heroes. This 68 old woman

who has cut the waste from food dramatically. She even dries up

potato peeling is so they weigh less and don't take up so much room

TRANSLATION: Reducing waste is as difficult as you might think. In the

past we were taxed a fixed rate to dump waste. Now I'm doing all I can.

There is a smart wastebin at a housing complex. It weighs the

waste. She identifies herself with a card and the card registers how much

waste she has left. At the end of the month, she and the other

residents get charged for the waste that they leave. The less waste, the

lower the bill. There is a monitoring of residence through

CCTV, but this system is really based on trust. And self interest.

Burlesque waste to leave, the more money you make. The city government

organises competitions to get waste down. The official in charge thinks

that the career and lifestyle generates a lot of waste.

TRANSLATION: Whether cooking at home for guests we prepare a lot of food

to show hospitality. That is why we also end up throwing up more food

than anyone else. It becomes useful and becomes transformed into a

sludge which is then dried and sent to farms as fertiliser. Waste not

want not all to be the country 's motto. We were joined earlier by an

expert. There two things it is the favour lost. And this is the

reduction in in reduced food because of transportation and waste that

happens from farm to the food plate. Waste is another issue and

that is the lost because of you and me. And that is likely a western

phenomenon. We're seeing that with respect to the waste. Many of our

countries are wanting to do something about it. Marathon running

has been popular for decades with large events that attract tens of

thousands of citizens in cities like London, New York and Boston. In

India, the sport has only just gathered steam in recent years.

Early morning on more by's most famous beach. Some of these runners

already have a fumaric funds under their belt. Others are still

training for their first long-distance run. This man is

having them get their. Is it the last one? He became a professional

coach 15 years ago but he has never seen business bigger place way it is

now. I would never have imagined this change that has taken place. We

never had people running but in the five years is that they come around

25,000. Most believe this culture of running in India was triggered by

the mourned by -- Mumbai Marathon. There are thousands of corporate

sponsors backing them. This run is only for women and it is in its

fifth year. We face challenges with long stretches of old road without

potholes and twists and turns or obstruction of traffic. That is one

area of challenge that we face. The other is in terms of getting the

number of permission. We are to get 16 or 17 licences to organise one

running event. Finding space to running Indian cities is perhaps the

biggest problem. When I rather I find pets is like this with things

done about. Then there is pollution which has become a big concern in

Indian cities. In Delhi it is sometimes so bad that doctors advise

against any outdoor exercise at all. Despite the odds stacked up against

them people are finding ways of getting around the obstacles in

their path. A feeling of, is meant and a means to keep fit, as social

activity. People run the different reason. For different reasons -- for

different reasons. They're keeping the industry running. Let us take a

look at the market. Of course most markets were shut for Easter on

Friday but we did see that data from the United States with the United

States GDP being revised higher to 1.4%. That is already having an

impact on markets here in Asia. The Nikkei is already stronger. And

we're watching the employment data from the United States and that is

meant to influence markets later on. That is it for our edition of the

Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching.

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