Food Waste Recycling

Food Waste Recycling

In Singapore, 796,000 tonnes of food waste was generated in 2013 and the recycling rate is 13%. Food waste is usually processed as animal feed, and undergoes aerobic or anaerobic digestion to produce compost or energy. Let's take a closer look at food recycling: Food Recycling in Singapore There are local recycling companies that collect bread waste, soya bean waste and spent grains from food industries, and processes them into animal feed. A few years ago, a recycling plant collects and turns food waste into methane and compost using an anaerobic digestion process. The digestion process involves microorganisms breaking down the food waste in reactors in the absence of oxygen, thus producing methane or biogas that can be burned to generate energy. The digested food waste can be used as compost for planting. Unfortunately the plant closed down in 2011. Watch this video for a simple explanation of anaerobic digestion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=but5ntRMQQc Food waste is also recycled using a mechanical composting process. Some companies and organisations use an aerobic digestion or composting machine to turn food waste into compost or water. The composting process involves microorganisms breaking down the food waste in the machine in the presence of oxygen, thus avoiding the production of methane. The digested food waste can be used as compost for landscaping and the water can be used for watering plants. What Can I Do Food waste is not commonly collected from homes for recycling, so what you can do is to reduce your food waste by not wasting food. Check out our tips on Don't Waste Food. Also check out more tips on reducing food waste through the Save Food Cut Waste campaign.