Technology is amazing and has been widely used to help us deal with problems. In the case of food waste, the use of technology in production, harvesting, packaging and transportation has greatly improved the shelf-life of food items while minimising wastage. This post shall be touching on how technology helps us in disposing food waste to be more eco-friendly. Currently, most organic waste is incinerated at Pulau Semakau. While this reduces land needed to store the waste, it release a unnecessarily great amount of greenhouse gases. Not to mention, it uses up fuels for the combustion which could have been used for other means to increase output.
In Singapore, major hotels like Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel , Fairmount and Swissotel are segregating their waste for recycling. They are also using on site food waste treatment plants to convert the food waste into compost for landscaping purposes or water for non-potable use. As quoted from a Channel News Asia interview, Swissotel Merchant Court’s General Manager Rainer Tenius said: "We are recycling approximately 1 tonne of food waste every day which, considering our total waste in our hotel, is approximately a 45 per cent reduction of our waste.
Employee at Fairmount sorting food waste into the bins.
According to the National Environmental Agency (2015), they are planning to launch a pilot food waste mangement project at two hawker centres by the end of the year. Namely, Tiong Bahru Market and Ang Mo Kio Block 628 Market. The machines will be similar to those used by the hotels and should be supplied by Eco-Wiz. NEA said the programme will focus on training cleaners to segregate the types of food correctly to put into the different bins to be put in the machines. Food waste segregation is important because the machines can only decompose organic food matter. Things like plastic wrappings cannot be degraded by the machines.
If the project were to be successful, I believe the effects would be far-reaching as hawker centres are where most Singaporeans dine at, thus would likely have the largest amounts of food waste. This eco-friendly method of disposing our food waste would definitely reduce our carbon footprint significantly. However, I don't believe that this technology is a solving the root of the problem. While food waste may be inevitable because of the natural crop growth, weather conditions and the various processes our food goes through -from harvesting to distribution. I believe that excess food waste stems from our wasteful usage of resources, this means we have to make better choices. This requires time and effort to change people's habits. In my opinion, a more long-term solution would be to get people to change their choices and appreciate food more.
One can even sign a pledge here to reduce food waste in SG!
References:
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/two-hawker-centres-get-new-food-waste-recycling-machines
In Singapore, major hotels like Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel , Fairmount and Swissotel are segregating their waste for recycling. They are also using on site food waste treatment plants to convert the food waste into compost for landscaping purposes or water for non-potable use. As quoted from a Channel News Asia interview, Swissotel Merchant Court’s General Manager Rainer Tenius said: "We are recycling approximately 1 tonne of food waste every day which, considering our total waste in our hotel, is approximately a 45 per cent reduction of our waste.
Employee at Fairmount sorting food waste into the bins.
According to the National Environmental Agency (2015), they are planning to launch a pilot food waste mangement project at two hawker centres by the end of the year. Namely, Tiong Bahru Market and Ang Mo Kio Block 628 Market. The machines will be similar to those used by the hotels and should be supplied by Eco-Wiz. NEA said the programme will focus on training cleaners to segregate the types of food correctly to put into the different bins to be put in the machines. Food waste segregation is important because the machines can only decompose organic food matter. Things like plastic wrappings cannot be degraded by the machines.
If the project were to be successful, I believe the effects would be far-reaching as hawker centres are where most Singaporeans dine at, thus would likely have the largest amounts of food waste. This eco-friendly method of disposing our food waste would definitely reduce our carbon footprint significantly. However, I don't believe that this technology is a solving the root of the problem. While food waste may be inevitable because of the natural crop growth, weather conditions and the various processes our food goes through -from harvesting to distribution. I believe that excess food waste stems from our wasteful usage of resources, this means we have to make better choices. This requires time and effort to change people's habits. In my opinion, a more long-term solution would be to get people to change their choices and appreciate food more.
One can even sign a pledge here to reduce food waste in SG!
References:
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/two-hawker-centres-get-new-food-waste-recycling-machines
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/cutting-down-food-waste/1863614.html
http://flexisystems.com.sg/prod_bfwd.php
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