Where does food waste come from? Where does food waste go? How can we make better use of food waste?

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Where does food waste come from?Where does food
waste go?How can we make better use of food
waste?
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Food Waste Recycling Background

• Food Waste Recyclers
• Commercial food waste collection around Adelaide
• Hotels, cafes, Schools, Child Care Centres,
  Retirement Homes, Food Processors etc.
• Green reporting and education methane offsets
  from recycling food waste instead of landfilling
• BiobiN
• Aerated skip bins that initiate composting
• Used in major shopping centres and remote areas
• Peats Soils and Garden Supplies
• Major commercial composter
• Compost all organic waste streams
• Food waste
• Kerbside green waste (lawn clippings, tree
  branches etc)
• Wood chip waste (forestry, chipped pallets)
• pallets
• Bagged product you buy from the hardware and
  landscape supply store

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Where does food waste come from?

• Off cuts and unused portions
• Plate scrapings
• Food preparation
• Spillage
• Un-edible (oyster shell)
• Past the used by date
• Bottom of the fridge

• Cafes and Restaurants
• Schools
• Hotels
• Food manufacturers
• Child care centres
• Shopping Centres
• Nursing homes
• Sports stadiums
• Fast food outlets

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Food Waste includes

• Fruit
• Vege
• Meat
• Bones
• Pasta
• Bread

• Sweets
• Coffee grinds
• Tea bags
• Seafood (inc shells)

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Examples Average food waste produced per day

• Hotel 250kg
• Fast food store 40kg
• Catering company 75kg
• Food manufacturer 400kg
• School (reception to yr 12) 26kg
• Child care centre 25kg
• Restaurant 40kg

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Food waste Useful to know how much there is

• 10.5 billion spent of wasted goods and services
  every year in Australia
• gt5.3 billion was for wasted food
• 14 million tonnes of organic material (not just
  food waste) in Australia annually
• 67 goes to landfill
• gt Food waste as a would be much higher (many
  transfer stations, councils green waste sites,
  etc do not take food waste)

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Food waste Useful to know how much there is

• Food scraps and garden waste make up 47 of
  household waste by weight
• Food scraps and garden waste make up 13 of
  Commercial and Industrial waste

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Where does it go?

• 90 of food waste in SA goes to landfill
• Whats landfill?
• Essentially a hole in the ground
• Food waste in landfill breaks down anaerobically
  and release methane gas
• 23 times worse for the atmosphere than C02
• Some landfills have a capping and collection
  system, and the methane is collected
• This process can take 20 years
• Even if methane is collected, it is usually
  contaminated with other toxins, and most
  definitely not the preferred outcome
• Some food waste used to go to pigs, however this
  is against regulation now

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Why does it go to landfill?

• Existing contracts
• Waste management companies have tie down
  contracts and vested interests in landfills
• Mindset
• Many councils are unsure how to deal with food
  waste (pickup frequency, cost, changes required
  to existing contracts)
• Market perception that its hard to deal with
• Landfilling is seen as easy and cheap (many
  hidden costs)
• Regulation no consequence gtgt landfill levy is
  too low
• 23.70 a tonne in SA
• .140 a tonne in London

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How can we make better use of food waste? / Where
should it go?

• What can we do individually?
• Compost at home
• Watch what you buy and how you use it
• Review your plate sizes
• Grow your own fruit and vegies
• Shop only at shops that recycle their food waste
  (if unsure, ask)

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How can we make better use of food waste? / Where
should it go?....cont

• Anaerobic Digestion AD
• The process of storing food waste in a closed
  environment to capture all the gases released and
  use these to power a generator
• Use the energy value of the waste to create
  power
• Energy from biogas (biogas powers a generator)
• Examples
• Waitrose in the UK
• Some Australian Piggeries and Dairy farms are
• Other outputs from AD include organic fertiliser

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How can we make better use of food waste? / Where
should it go?....cont

• Commercial composting (Peats Soils and Garden
  Supplies)
• Process of mixing food waste with other organic
  waste streams
• Kerbside green waste
• Chipped timber (ie pallets)
• Animal bedding
• Windrow composting
• Remove pathogens
• Develop various products
• High grade, lab tested, Australian Standard
  certified products

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How can we make better use of food waste? / Where
should it go?....cont

• Commercial Composting Products
• Soil conditioner
• Remediation (ie soils that contain heavy metals)
• Organic fertiliser
• Vineyards
• Horticultural industry
• Garden mulches
• Benefits of products
• Increased water retention in the soil 20 to 30
• Increased plant growth/yield 20 to 30
• Healthier soil (more microbial activity)
• Reduced carbon dioxide (90 of the cost of
  chemical fertiliser is energy)
• Healthier soils healthier planet

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How can we make better use of food waste? / Where
should it go?....contFUTURE

• Community gardens/ mini-commercial composters
• Reduce/remove waste transport costs
• Provide material to the community
• Developed centric gardens for less food miles
• Source specific small scale anaerobic digesters
  (ie processed on site)
• Reduce/ remove transport costs

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What mechanism do we need to place to make food
waste recycling like bottles and cans? (ie 80
recycling)

• Increase landfill levies a tax on landfill
• Education campaigns
• Regulation
• Support for Anaerobic Digestion
• Extended producer responsibilitygt action from
  industry, such as supermarket chains
• Inform consumers
• Science validation of outcomes and comparison
  (soil with compost vs soil without)

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• Thank you for your time