The Strategy for Food Waste in Hk

Catalogue 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. 1 The definition of food waste ............................................................................................................ 1 1. 2 The sources/generators of food waste.............................................................................................. 3 1. 2. 1 The sources of food waste in Hong Kong .................................................................................... 1. 2. 2 The sources of food waste in oversea countries/regions.............................................................. 6 1. 3 The situation in Hong Kong and oversea countries............................................................................. 7 1. 3. 1 The situation in Hong Kong........................................................................................................ 7 1. 3. 2 Food waste situation in oversea countries and regions .............................................................. 0 2 Finding ................................................................................................................................................ 13 2. 1 Case study of HK .......................................................................................................................... 13 2. 1. 1 Minimization approaches for food waste in Hong Kong ............................................................. 14 2. 1. 2 Reuse/recycling approached of food waste in Hong Kong .......................................................... 7 2. 1. 3 Case of minimization and recycling of food waste in schools...................................................... 24 2. 1. 4 Conclusion of strategies in HK .................................................................................................. 27 2. 2 Minimization and strategies in oversea countries ............................................................................. 27 2. 2. 1 New Zealand........................................................................................................................... 27 2. 2. Korea ..................................................................................................................................... 28 2. 2. 3 Taiwan ................................................................................................................................... 32 2. 2. 4 Case of The East Bay Municipal Utility District........................................................................... 34 3 Critical Comparison.............................................................................................................................. 7 3. 1 Comparisons ................................................................................................................................. 37 3. 1. 1 Recycle/Reuse efficiency ......................................................................................................... 37 3. 1. 2 Different campaigns and laws in approaches to food wastes in different countries ..................... 39 3. 1. 3 Technologies applied in food waste.......................................................................................... 41 3. 1. Barriers in food waste recycle/reuse in Hong Kong.................................................................... 45 3. 2 Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 47 4 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................... 50 References ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1 Introduction 1. 1 The definition of food waste According to the project of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2012), global food production will increase 70% by 2050 on the purpose of meeting the demands of the growing world population under current production and consumption. However, there are more than one third of the food produced today being wasted or lost. Food wasted or food loss may cause a range of issues not only on the environment but also on society and economy.

Therefore, both developed countries and developing countries dedicate to avoid and reduce food waste. In general, food waste or food loss refers to the food that is discarded or lost uneaten. It occurs on all steps in the food chain (Figure 1). In developed countries, most food waste occurs at the consumption stage, while in developing or low-income countries, food is wasted during production. Different countries or regions have their own definitions of food waste, relating to food waste sources, the situation of countries, their population and so on. 1 Fig. 1. The steps where food waste occurs (Heta-Kaisa Koivupuro, 2011) ? United Nations Food waste is food loss which occurs at the retail and final consumption stages because of the behavior of throwing away of food by the retailers and consumers ( Gustavsson, J. , 2010). The loss includes biomass which is originally meant for human consumption but eventually used for some other purpose, such as fuel or animal feed. Meanwhile, food waste in United Nations only consists of reduction in edible food mass during the production, postharvest and processing stages instead of the inedible parts. Hong Kong The definition of food waste in Hong Kong still can not be unified, but food waste can be divided into two kinds at least. They are uncooked food and excess cooked food. The first kind of food waste may be easily dealt with compared with the second kind, because it usually includes the excess raw food such as fruit peel, kernel and eggshell, while the excess cooked food may mix up with oil, tissue and toothpick which affect the treatment methods for food waste. ? Australia 2

In Australia, food waste means an unwanted raw or cooked food discarded during or after food preparation that is no longer fit for consumption or desirable (Nathalie Jean-Baptiste, 2009). It includes spoiled cooked food, excess cooked food, vegetables and fruits peelings, beverage, undesirable raw food and meat scraps. ? European Union In European Union, food waste is defined as any food substance, raw or cooked, which is discarded, or intended or required to be discarded. ? United States In United States, the food waste is defined by the United States Environmental Prottection Agency.

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The definition is uneaten food and food preparation wastes from residences and commercial establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants, and produce stands, institutional cafeterias and kitchens, and industrial sources like employee lunchrooms ( United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2006). Although the definitions of food waste vary in different countries and regions, the adverse impacts that food waste caused are so serious that more attention should be paid and mo re actions should be taken to avoid and treat it. . 2 The sources/generators of food waste Developed and developing countries actually waste about the same amount of food (670 and 630 million tonnes, respectively). The difference is at what level in the food supply chain the waste occurs. In developed countries, the highest volume of waste is at the retail and consumer level; in developing countries it occurs mostly at the post-harvest and processing level due to limitations in transit, storage and processing.

Therefore, HK, as one of the most developed areas in the world, its food waste mainly comes from the retail and final consumption stages. 3 In order to reduce or avoid food waste effectively, the best way is to learn about the sources or generators of food waste. Because if we try best to avoid food waste or food loss from its sources, the other processes for reducing waste or loss during the following stages can be avoided, so that we can save money and resources. The sources of food waste of different countries and regions are illustrated below. . 2. 1 The sources of food waste in Hong Kong The sources of food wase in Hong Kong can be divided into two parts, major source and other sources. Table 1 shows the different sources and their components and characteristics. The major source is domestic or residential. According to the statistic of Friends of The Earth, domestic food waste accounts for 70% of all food waste produced in Hong Kong, with an amount of 2,300 tonnes per day (Friends of The Earth, 2009). The reasons for domestic food waste are various.

For example, food is cheap or some people may hold the idea that when inviting others to dinner, they have to order more than enough so that they would not lose face. Table 1. 1 Sources of food waste in HK Amount of waste Source Major Components Characteristic (tons/day) Spoiled cooked food Supermarkets and Beverage stores Undes irable raw food Spoiled cooked food Excess cooked food Including avoidable and Residential/Domestic Vegetables & fruits peelings unavoidable Beverage Undes irable raw food 4 Most are Avoidable 90 2,300

Meat scraps Excess cooked food Vegetables & fruits peelings Restaurants and Beverage hotels Undes irable raw food Meat scraps Vegetables & fruits peelings Beverage Food industry Undes irable raw food Meat scraps Excess cooked food Beverage Schools Vegetables & fruits peelings Meat scraps Avoidable are edible or edible before spoilage/damage) Unavoidable are inedible food material like vegetable peels, bones, etc. unavoidable Including avoidable and 41 unavoidable Including avoidable and 900 unavoidable Including avoidable and 964 The major source is domestic or residential.

According to the statistic of Friends of The Earth, domestic food waste accounts for 70% of all food waste produced in Hong Kong, with an amount of 2,300 tonnes per day (Friends of The Earth, 2009). The reasons for domestic food waste are various. For example, food is cheap or some people may hold the idea that when inviting others to dinner, they have to order more than enough so that they would not lose face. The other sources are supermarkets and stores, food industry and schools. The food industry consists of food chains, Chinese restaurants, hotels, bakeries, supermarkets, markets, food producers and so on.

The industry produces 900 tonnes of food waste per day (Friends of The Earth, 2009). And schools generate 15,000 tonnes of food waste per year. Meanwhile, food waste in Hong Kong can be separated into two kinds at source, they are 5 non-recyclable kind which includes glasses, tinfoil, cling film, carton boxes, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and tin cans, and recyclable kind, including meat, bones, bread, rice and noodles, vegetable, fruit and egg shells (Figure 2). Fig. 1. 2 Separation of food waste at source (EPD, 2011) 1. 2. 2 The sources of food waste in oversea countries/regions

In Australia, the food waste mainly comes from household or residential with an amount of about 3 million tonnes per year. Approximately 20% of food will b e thrown away after its purchase in Australia In European Union, food waste are from households, supermarkets, restaurants and the food supply chain. Over 50% of edible and healthy food in EU is wasted each year and the amount is 89 million tonnes per year. 6 Fig. 1. 3 Sources of food waste fir cereals, by region (Agree, 2011) Unlike the developed countries, food waste in developing countries is generated at lower levels.

Figure 3 further identified the source level of food waste. From it, we can see that in the developed countries like Europe and North America, about 60% of the food waste in cereal grain products occurs at consumption stage. Conversely, in the developing regions, like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, more than 60% of food waste 1. 3 The situation in Hong Kong and oversea countries 1. 3. 1 The situation in Hong Kong According to the statistic of EPD, in Hong Kong, about 3,584 tonnes food waste are produced everyday, accounting for a third of all solid waste in Hong Kong.

One third of them originates from 7 commercial and industry (C&I) sector, and the remaining comes from households. So households produce larger amount of food waste in Hong Kong. The volume of food waste from C&I sectors has increases more than double in the last decade, from 400 tonnes in 2002 to 1,056 tonnes in 2011 (Figure 4). Also, we can see from Fig. 2 that supermarket dispose 29 tonnes edible food everyday. Fig. 1. 4 Basic food waste situation in HK (EPD, 2012) Figure 5 futher illustrates a serious issue in Hong Kong.

About 3,200 tonnes of food are sent to landfill every day, which equals to the capacity of 126 double buses, and the cost for deal with food waste is more than 2 million per day. What‘s more, if the rate continues to increase, the landfills in Hong Kong could reach capacity in 2013. Therefore, the situation of food waste in Hong Kong is not satisfied and the loads of Hong Kong‘s landfill are too heavy. Every person in Hong Kong should realize this sever situation and try best to minimize food waste in daily life. 8 Fig. 1. The situation of food waste in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stories, 2011) General trend of food waste in Hong Kong is illustrated in Figure 6. In Figure 6, Line 1 represented commercial and industrial food waste, Line 2 represented domestic food waste and Line 3 represented municipal solid waste. From the figure below, we can conclude that in Hong Kong, the volume of domestic food waste has been reduced in the past 10 years, while the commercial and industrial food waste has kept going up significantly and accounted for 30% of municipal solid waste in 2009, which is 20% more than that in 1999.

The rising rate is really a serious problem and more attention should be paid in order to reduce food waste and the stress of landfill. 1 2 3 Fig. 1. 6 Volume of municipal solid waste in Hong Kong (FoE, 2010) 9 The reasons why the amount of food waste is pretty large and why it becomes a severe issue are listed below: ? Many diners have more food on the plate than they can eat. According to Greeners Action‘s survey: only 13 percent of responders can finish everything in their plates and about 87 percent of them always left some food behind, 44 percent of these respondents say that they often left over 30 percent or more.

Especially, at buffets and all- you-can-eat sushi or hot pot restaurants, patrons can be tempted to pile too much on their plates. ? Disposing is cheaper than using or re- using. For example, the unsold vegetable and fruit will be dumped everyday even some of them are still fresh in the next day, because the labour cost of picking is higher than the benefit of selling. 1. 3. 2 Food waste situation in oversea countries and regions ? Global Fig. 1. 7 Global food waste (PWC, 2012) 10

In Global, just like the percentage of food waste in Hong Kong, one third of the food is wasted or discarded. Food waste in industrialized countries is as high as in developing countries, but in developing countries more than 40% of the food losses occur at post harvest and processing levels, while in industrialized countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur at retail and consumer levels.. Figure 8 shows that the per capita food loss in Europe and North-America is 280-300 kg/year.

In sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia it is 120-170 kg/year. The total per capita production of edible parts of food for human consumption is, in Europe and North-America, about 900 kg/year and, in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia, 460 kg/year (Jenny Gustavsson, 2011). Fig. 1. 8 Food waste in different regions (Jenny Gustavsson, 2011) ? Korea Korea has a very short history (less than 10 years) for food waste recycling by its own way. In Korea, the percentage of food waste which is separately collected is over 80%.

Although the treatment techniques are advanced and over 80% of collected food waste is carrying to feedstuff and compost, the demand of the products is low in the whole society and the product situation is difficult. Nowadays , Korea has reconsidered its recycling system to construct a new and sustainable structure. ? Taiwan 11 The food waste recycling technology in Taiwan is also relatively mature with an eight-year history. Now Taiwan recycles an amount of food waste equivalent to the volume of waste processed daily in two 900-tonne incineration plants.

The food waste which accounts for 75% of total food waste collected is converted into pig feed and 24% food waste is composted. The rest 1% is treated for other uses. ? U. S. In the U. S. , more than 34 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2010 (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). Food makes up the largest percentage of waste going into municipal landfills and combusted for energy recovery in the U. S. (Fig. 9). Fig. 1. 9 Food waste in the U. S. (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012) ? Australia

In Australia, the amount of food waste discarded per year is about 3 million tonnes and 95% of compostable items are food waste (Australia Institute, 2005). The food waste production increased by 0. 5kg/w in 2007 compared to that in 2004 (3. 7kg/w). Sydney, the city with the larest population in 12 Australia, generates a high content of food waste in their general bins with close to 50%. Another study is found to analyze the cost of food waste in Australia. Australia wastes more than $5. 2 billion in food a year (Penny Pryor, 2011).

This is quite a lot of money and it suggests that the situation of food waste in Australia is also serious. The study concludes that t he biggest and most successful motivator to reducing food waste in Australia is saving money. Fig. 1. 10 Cost of food waste in Australia (Penny Pryor, 2011) ? Europe Excluding agricultural food waste and fish discards, about 90 million tonnes of food is wasted annually or 180 kg per capita per year in Europe. It has been projected that if no action is taken, the amount of food waste in Europe will reach 126 milling tonnes by 2020. 2 Finding 2. 1 Case study of HK 13 2. 1. Minimization approaches for food waste in Hong Kong There are many approaches are proposed for the minimization of Food waste in Hong Kong. But most of them are proposed by voluntary organization. And a general guideline for reduction and management of food waste for food service institutions are proposed by Greener Action: Fig 2. 1 The guideline for food waste reduction and management from Greener Action And other approaches or organizations for reduction of food waste include: Food Bank Feeding Hong Kong is the only food bank in Hong Kong dedicated to redistributing surplus food to people in need.

By providing a bridge between the food industry and the hungry of Hong Kong, they provide a solution that simultaneously cuts food waste and feeds those most in need. Fig 2. 2 The mission of Feeding Hong Kong from the website of Feed Hong Kong 14 Food Angel Besides, Food Angel is a food rescue and assistant program which help to reduce the generation of food waste in Hong Kong. They connect food producers and charitable organizations in local communities to ensure efficient food provision to the underprivileged. Food Recycling Sche me Food Recycling Scheme is a pilot food collection program operated by CTU Education Foundation Ltd.

The scheme is aim to collect and process unsold fresh food from market and make delicious vegetarian lunch which offers to unemployed trainees in training centre at lower price. It can save over 30,000 kg of wasted food yearly. Foodlink Foundation Limited is a registered non-profit organization which is aim to fight hunger and poverty by minimizing food wastage. The organization collects surplus and donated food from various hotels and F&B outlets and delivers it to shelters and to the needy, thereby generating a sustainable food-recycling system. The Foodlink operation is as follows: Fig 2. 3 The Foodlink operation from Foodlink

The voluntary organizations also launched several activities to enhance public awareness of reduction of food waste, like the ? Save Food Day on Wednesday? proposed by Greeners Action and ? Order Less Waste Less? proposed by Friends of the Earth. 15 Fig 2. 4 The poster of Save Food Day on Wednesday from Save Greeners Action Fig 2. 5 The photo from the website of Friends of the Earth Implementation: These actions are helpful to reduce the generation of food waste, but there is no certain figure of the reduction amount of food waste by these actions, and without the help of government, the achievement is limited. 16 2. . 2 Reuse/recycling approached of food waste in Hong Kong Kowloon Bay Pilot Composting Plant To gather experience and information on collection of source separated food waste and the application of biological technology to recycle food waste in Hong Kong, the Environmental Protection Department developed the Pilot Composting Plant (KBPCP) at the Kowloon Bay Waste Recycling Centre (KBWRC) in mid-2008. Implementation: The total treatment capacity of the KBPCP is 500 tonnes of food waste feedstock per year and about 100 tonnes of compost product will be produced. Fig 2. 6 Treatment Process of KBPCP from website of EPD

Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme EPD launched the ? ‘Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme‘‘ together with commercial & industrial (C&I) sectors in 2009 to promote good food waste management practice and to gain experience on food waste source separation and recycling. Implementation: During the operation of the ? Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme‘, 17 participants practised food waste source separation and placed the separated food waste in the designated collection bins provided by EPD at the assigned collection points for collectio n by EPD to the KBPCP for recycling.

EPD was responsible for cleaning the collection bins. At present, the participants of the scheme already increase to 70. Fig 2. 7 Poster of Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme from website of EPD Organic Waste Treatment Facilities The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has decided to develop the Organic Waste Treatment Facilities (OWTF) which will be developed in two phase. The OWTF will adopt biological technologies – composting and anaerobic digestion to stabilize the organic waste and turn it into compost and biogas for recovery.

The biogas produced in each phase of the OWTF could be used as renewable energy. A site search to locate suitable sites for the OWTF was completed. The proposed sites for the first phase and second phase of the OWTF are located at Siu Ho Wan of North Lantau and Shaling at North District respectively. 18 Fig 2. 8 Artist's Impression of the Organic Waste Treatment Facilities from website of EPD Implementation: The total daily treatment capacity of OWTF is 400-500 tonnes of organic waste per day, and about 28 million kWh of surplus electricity can be supplied to the power grid per year.

The first phase of the OWTF may be accomplished in 2 or 3 years, it can treat 200 tonnes of organic waste (mostly food waste) per day. 19 Fig 2. 9 The process of anaerobic digestion from website of EPD Electrical Composter Some of the leftovers in commercial & industrial sectors are now eliminated in situ by electrical composter proposed by EPD. Food waste is putted into a mechanical digester - through fermentation and other processes to turn most of it into water and carbon dioxide within one day. And the residue will be sent to landfill.

Implementation: The composter can reduce the volume of food waste sent to landfill in some extent, but there is not certain data for the reduction volume as the composter can be purchased from private producer. 20 Fig 2. 10 The electrical composter—Gomixer from Hong Kong chocking on food waste Food Waste Recycling Projects in Housing Estates Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) has allocated $50 million as subsidy and has launched a funding project, ? Food Waste Recycling Projects in Housing Estates? , to encourage the separated collection and recycling of food waste from households in July 2011.

Implementation: 11 estates were given funding support in the first phase with a total allocation of about $9 million. The participating estates have received subsidies to undertake on-site treatment of source separated food waste and to encourage households to reduce food waste. And it is estimated that about 45 additional estates could be covered in the second phase. Besides, EPD has also commissioned the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to operate a help-desk service for the potential housing estate applicants and those participating food waste separation, collection and recycling Government departments.

The services include: ? assisting in identification of a suitable site for installing the food waste treatment facility within the housing estate prior to formal application; ? providing professional and technical advices to potential applicants or participating government departments during planning and, implementation stages; and ? conducting evaluation of performance, effectiveness and outcomes. 21 Fig 2. 11 The poster of Food Waste Recycling Projects in Housing Estates from website of help-desk service for food waste recycling project in housing estate

Food waste recycling technology-Bokashi Greeners Action introduced the food waste recycling technology-Bokashi from New Zealand in 2010, this technology can help people dispose their food waste at home. Implementation: More than 170 households has bought this food waste recycling system, and some pilot projects have been launched in schools and residential area in these two years. 22 Fig 2. 12 The poster of Bokashi from website of Greeners Action Individual recycling company Green Idea is a recycling company in Yeun Long which collects used school lunch boxes and separates and recycles both the food waste and plastic container.

Generally, they can recycle about 800 thousands of school lunch boxes every day, which can reduce the food waste in some extent. Fig 2. 13 The heading from we bsite of Green Idea Kowloon Biotechnology Ltd is a recycling company using the food waste to produce feedstuff. It can recycle about 50 tons every day to produce different kind of feedstuff. Hong Kong Organic Waste Recycling Center is a company which can offer a series of recycling service for organic waste. They use the advanced technology combing the experiences from local expert and oversea countries to provide a help in recycling of food waste in Hong Kong. 23 Fig 2. 4 The heading from website of HKOWRC 2. 1. 3 Case of minimization and recycling of food waste in schools 2. 1. 3. 1 The situation of food waste in schools Solid waste is divided into some 60 categories at present, of which the ? dining wares made of plastic/poly- foam? covers basically all types of disposable food and drink containers and cutlery. In 2007, the volume of such waste we disposed of amounted to about 199 tonnes per day. Disposable food containers are usually made of non-degradable materials that will stay in earth forever and pollute the environment, which increases the difficulty of recycling of food waste. . 1. 3. 2 The objective of Green Lunch scheme To reduce the generation of food waste and protect our environment, schools can help by drawing up and adopting a suitable green lunch policy based on the principle of ? Reduc ing Pollution and Minimizing Wastage?. 2. 1. 3. 3 Analysis of meal arrangement in schools Meal arrangements in schools can be mainly divided into two types by the containers they used: reusable or disposable containers. Reusable containers mean those are robust and durable enough for repeated washing and reuse.

Meals served in reusable containers may be portioned either on-site or off-site, namely, Central/On-Site Portioning and Off-site Portioning. Central/On-Site Portioning Cooked food is delivered by lunch suppliers to schools in bulk, and then re- heated and portioned in-situ for distribution to students. 24 Fig 2. 15 Central/On-Site Portioning from Green Lunch Guideline Off-Site Portioning Cooked food is prepared and portioned at the kitchens of lunch suppliers and delivered to schools in lunch boxes according to the amount ordered. Fig 2. 16 Off-Site Portioning from Green Lunch Guideline . 1. 3. 4 Proposal for central/on-site portioning in schools The central/on-site portioning is better than off-site portioning in many aspects. Therefore, schools are proposed to applied central/on-site portioning in order to reduce pollution and minimize wastage. The benefits of central/on-site portioning in schools include: 25 ? All dining wares used including trays, dishes, bowls, chopsticks, knives and forks, etc. are washable and reusable. Basically, no disposable containers and cutlery are used, which increases the potential of recycling of food waste.

The amount of food portioned can be flexibly adjusted on request by students, which can reduce the potential of generation of left over by student. And the volume of lunch supplied can be adjusted according to the leftover generated, which reduce the food waste and wastage considerably. According to teachers and students, eating at canteens is much more joyful and exciting than in classrooms, providing a unique social activity for students. ? ? Fig 2. 17 Photo from Green Lunch Guideline 2. 1. 3. 5 Implementation—an example of school of central/on-site portioning St.

Edward‘s Catholic Primary School is a successful example applying central/on-site portioning. The school spent almost a year for the arrangement of central/on-site portioning; the preparation works include the selection of proper place for central/on-site portioning and the lunch supplier, and communication with the student‘s parents. After the application of central/on-site portioning, the volume of food waste has been reduced and most of them can be recycled. Besides, the food waste separation and collection processes enhance the environmental awareness of students, and the 26 isposable lunchbox is not used for lunch anymore. Fig 2. 18 The situation of central/on-site portioning in St. Edward’s Catholic Primary School from Green Lunch Guideline 2. 1. 4 Conclusion of strategies in HK The EPD has proposed several schemes for the reuse or recycling of food waste in recent years, including strategies of collection and recycling facilities. Therefore, we may forecast that the increasing volume of food waste will be turn into useful product or renewable energy by effective separation.

But for the strategy of minimization of food waste, most of them are proposed by voluntary organization without the governmental help. 2. 2 Minimization and strategies in oversea countries 2. 2. 1 New Zealand The government supports and subsidizes households to reuse/recycle the food waste on-site. Non-edible food waste is regularly composted either through a collection service, with home composting or with a worm farm. A survey of households in 2007showed that 79% shop in a way to prevent food wastage, 63% carry out home composting and 10% have a worm farm. And one 27 f the ways to prevent food wastage for supermarkets and grocery stores is donating the food to the voluntary organizations, like Food not Bombs which uses their discarded food to feed people at film nights and markets. Kai to Compost is a food waste collection scheme for restaurants and businesses. The scheme collects food waste from restaurants and takes it to the Living Earth plant at the Southern Landfill, where the material is mixed with green waste and used to produce compost. It was initially a trial scheme with government funding but is now a user pays scheme involving 50 businesses.

Up until the end of 2006, the Council had collected 456 tonnes of food waste. Fig 2. 19 Kai to Compost collection truck 2. 2. 2 Korea Korea government has forbidden direct landfill of the food wastes in 2005 and has paid much effort to build up the collection system and reuse/recycling facilities for food waste: a. The reuse/recycling methods of food waste: Separated collection method of food wastes at source: 28 b. Dry Feedstuff Production: c. Wet Feedstuff Production: 29 d. Compost: e. Anaerobic Digestion Facility: 30 Besides, Separated disposal of food waste is now legally mandatory.

The waste collectors can refuse to collect the food trash or fine the dumper if the trash was not separated well. Through this comprehensive food wastes reduction plan and financial support for installing food wastes recycling facility, the recycling rate of food waste is already up to 94% in 2005, from 45. 1% in 2002. And in Seoul, the collecting rate of food waste is up to 100% in 2008. For the reduction of food waste, Seoul is about to start a trial run of large automatic receptacles that weigh the amount of food refuse deposited into them by each household and charges accordingly.

Fig 2. 20 “Pay-by-volume” clean Q system for food waste 31 And the dumping of waste water generated by the processing of leftover food into the sea will be banned from 2013, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime affairs. The Ministry of Environment started to focus on the biogas plant which can turn the waste water into clean fuel in recent years. 2. 2. 3 Taiwan Since the fiscal year 2001, the EPA has been subsidizing the local town, county and city governments to establish their kitchen waste collection and recycling programs.

In 2007, the kitchen waste recycling program has been incorporated into EPA's "2007-2012 Public Development Program-General Waste Resource Recycling Promotion Program", in order to achieve proper treatment of all collected kitchen waste and to complement the ? Zero Waste? policy. The schemes for reuse or recycling of food waste include: [1] Education and Promotion of Kitchen Waste Recycling Program Promote "Green Eating Habits – Kitchen Waste Reduction Campaign"; Train kitchen waste recycling education seed instructors, and conduct on-the-job training for implementation organization's responsible personnel; ? ? ?

Work with schools, communities and environmental groups to conduct education, promotion, demonstration and training activities; ? Prepare promotional brochures and handbooks to teach residents how to conduct kitchen waste sorting, collection and reuse; ? ? Promote kitchen waste recycling on the radio, cable TV and news media; Establish kitchen waste recycling webpages on central, county and city governments' websites. [2] Establish Kitchen Waste Collection and Transportation System ? Implement kitchen waste collection and transportation from households, schools, military bases and correctional facilities; 32 ?

Modifications or purchases of garbage trucks for use in kitchen waste recycling, and purchases of kitchen waste recycling buckets; ? ? Design collection zones, routes, transportation modes, and develop collection goals; Establish temporary storage sites for collected kitchen waste, purchase transfer mac hinery and cleaning equipment; ? Organize demonstration of a better-performing local government program, improve collection system and man-power input. [3] Establish modes of kitchen waste reuse ? Reuse of kitchen waste as pig feed after high temperature sterilization, or use as organic fertilizer after composting; Inspect pig farms permitted to use recycled kitchen waste as feed to ensure proper feed sterilization and pig immunization; ? Establish regional kitchen waste reuse factories/sites, such as high temperature sterilization facilities, composting sites, anaerobic digesters etc. ; ? ? Transport kitchen waste to manure and compost manufacturers to produce organic fertilizers; Enhance the quality and technologies of the compost produced by local governments‘ composting plants; ? Provide incentive assistance and subsidies to private sector to encourage establishment of kitchen waste recycling and reuse facilities. 4] Develop markets for recycled kitchen waste products ? ? ? Establish long-term quality and quantity data for recycled kitchen waste; Develop and evaluate safety inspection and tests for kitchen waste recycling and reuse products; Develop and evaluate other feasible kitchen waste reuse options, such as turning into feedstuff or adopt anaerobic fermentation; ? Work with Council of Agriculture and other local governments' agriculture competent authorities or associations to jointly promote kitchen waste reuse means. 33 Fig 2. 21 Compost Plant in Taiwan

Besides, in order to continue the kitchen waste recycling efforts and assist the local governments in establishing diversified kitchen waste reuse system, the following kitchen waste daily collection and reuse goals have been set between 2007 and 2012: Table 2. 1 kitchen waste daily collection and reuse goals Implementation: At present, all 319 local town and township governments nationwide are implementing the kitchen waste recycling program. Through the combined efforts of EPA and local governments, the recycling rate of food waste is up to 36% in 2008 and 1977 tonnes of kitchen waste in Taiwan is recycled every day in 2009.

Of the methods used to treat food waste, about 75% undergoes steam treatment to make pig feed, while 24% enters composting systems and 1% undergoes other processes, like incineration. 2. 2. 4 Case of The East Bay Municipal Utility District 34 The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) of the San Francisco Bay Area has done a great job in converting food waste to methane gas and later to energy. The East Bay Municipal Utility District‘s food waste energy project turns magnitude of food waste to energy through completely natural process. The eco friendly method helps people convert their food waste to methane gas.

EMBUD utilize the natural process like the Muckbuster to turn the raw food waste to clean energy. Muckbuster is an anaerobic digester from a green firm called the SeaB and turns deserted food items into clean energy. The container like system has the capability to recycle half a ton of food waste to generate the amount of energy required to run 150 computers. Muckbuster is outfitted with advanced technologies to derive methane from food waste through a biological process. The methane is later flowed through a heat and power system to produce electricity. Fig 2. 22 Muckbuster Anaerobic Digester from Ecofriend

Besides, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) collects and carries the pumpkin waste into its plants to produce energy. Every year in the U. S. , after the Halloween, heaps of pumpkins will move to the landfalls. This food waste is also recycled in EBMUD. The bacteria breakdown of the pumpkin waste along with other food waste will produce methane gases, which can be used to produce energy. 35 Fig 2. 23 Pumpkin Power from Ecofriend The EBMUD was honored in 2007 with a grant of $50,000 by the EPA to encourage it develop new methods for digesting food waste to produce methane gas.

The power produced by the EBMUD is used to run the regional waste water treatment plant. Fig 2. 24 EBMUD’s example of turning waste into energy from Ecofriend 36 3 Critical Comparison 3. 1 Comparisons Mountains of food waste are a growing problem in many affluent countries. In Hong Kong, where people love to eat out, leftover food takes up much of the limited space in city landfills. So the judgement for Hong Kong recycle/reuse efficiency, technologies applied and strategies or policies conducted with overseas countries is very significant. 3. 1. Recycle/Reuse efficiency In fact, the data of food wastes generation per person per year in different countries are different. In New Zealand, about 258,886 tonnes of food waste goes to landfill each year. That works out to be 64kg per person per year. And that's just in New Zealand. At the meanwhile, it‘s about 70kg per person per year of food waste in UK. And the US gets a number of approximately 82kg per person per year dumped into the landfill. In addition, there are several data about food waste by different country shown in Figure 3. 1. Figure 3. Food waste in different countries (kg/cap/year) In consideration of the population in HK, we can calculate the food wastes per person per year. According to the Census and Statistics Department in HK, the population of HK is 7,136,300 by 37 Mid-2012. By the investigation of EPD website, there is approximately 3,584 tonnes food waste produced in Hong Kong every day. And 3200 tonnes of food among it is sent to landfill each day. So 3584tonnes ? 1000kg /tonnes 7136300 3584tonnes ? 1000kg /tonnes 7136300 3200tonnes ? 1000kg /tonnes 7136300 3200tonnes ? 1000kg /tonnes 7136300 ? 365 = 197kg person /year, = 0. 0kg person /day of food waste generation and ? 365 = 164kg person /year , = 0. 45kg person /day of food waste dumped into landfill would be the results. From the comparison of the data above, we can conclude that HK is one of the largest generation areas of food waste in the world and that the most important and efficient way is reducing the food waste generation rather than recycling and reusing approaches which are also indispensable. We assume that the residuals are totally recycled or reused in a sustainable way. The recycle/reuse efficiency would be like that: 3584 ? 200 ? 100% = 11% 3584 That is to say the recycle/reuse efficiency of food waste in HK is 11% at most. Table 3. 1 Food waste recycling rates in developed Asian nations. Country Korea (2005) Japan (2007) Taiwan (2008) Singapore (2008) Annual Food Waste Generated (ton) Daily Food Waste Generated 4,755,220 20,000,000 1,899,379 568,000 13,028 54,795 5,190 1,556 38 (ton/d) Annual Food waste recycled (ton) Daily Food waste recycled (ton/d) Food waste recycling rate, % Population (million) Daily Food Waste Generated per capita(kg/d/ca) Daily Food Waste Recycled per capita(kg/d/ca) 0. 6 0. 09 0. 08 0. 04 0. 27 0. 43 0. 23 0. 31 48 127 23 5 94 20 36 12 12,246 10,956 1,889 186 4,469,907 4,000,000 691374 68000 Whereas, Table 3. 1 generally illustrates the food waste recycling rates in developed Asian nations. With the observation of this figure and the assumed recycle/reuse efficiency in Hong Kong, we can get the idea that the combination of strategies implemented and the technologies applied processes better in a country order: HK, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. 3. 1. Different campaigns and laws in approaches to food wastes in different countries 39 3. 1. 2. 1 Korea 1994: Start composting demonstration projects in 12 cities. 1995: Korean government established the ? Committee for the Management of Food Waste‘ 1996: Kyonggi Province declares ? War against food waste? 1999: Food waste collection in Suwon City (Kyonggi Province) 2002: Establish a voluntary agreement for food waste reduction ( in conjunction with FIFA world cup) 2005: Direct land- filling of food waste has been banned 2006: 2,520 tons of livestock and food waste per day was dumped into the ocean 3. 1. 2. 2 Japan 2001: Food waste recycling law 2004: Regional food waste composting in Sendai 2006: Recycling of Organic Waste in Aya Town – reached 20%, food-related business has to submit an annual report to report how the food waste is treated 2007: Revised of Food waste recycling law Co. 2007: 7-11 parent company + Agri Gaia System turn food waste into animal feedstock 3. 1. 2. Taiwan 2001: EPA starts food waste recycling in government departments 2003: Taipei starts food waste recycling policy 2006: Whole Taiwan (309 towns and townships) carried out food waste collection and recycling 2007: 2007-2012 Public Development Program-General Waste Resource Recycling Promotion Program 3. 1. 2. 4 Singapore 2003: Food from the Heart started the Bread distribution Programme 2007: IUT + NEA + Veolia collect food waste from markets 3. 1. 2. 5 Hong Kong 40 2009: Food Waste Recycling Partnership Scheme 2011: Food Waste Recycling Projects in Housing Estates

From the campaigns and laws mentioned above, we can deduce that Korea, Japan and Taiwan start to recycle or reuse the food waste in 1995, 2001, 2001 respectively. They start to recycle and reuse the food wastes much earlier than that in Hong Kong although there is a tremendous amount of food waste generating every day. Just in 2005, Direct land-filling of food waste was already banned, however, up to now, there is still a large amount of food waste sent to the landfill for dumping. Actually, a few years ago, the approach in compost was already conducted in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Whereas, Hong Kong uses this technology just in recent years. . 1. 3 Technologies applied in food waste Nowadays most of collected food waste has been recycled to compost and animal feedstuff. A very small part is used in anaerobic digestion. Table 3. 2. Different technologies used in different nations Country Feedstock Composting Anaerobic digestion Others Korea(2005) Japan(2007) Taiwan(2007) Singapore(2008) 54. 4% 50. 0% 77. 6% 75. 5% 29. 7% 45. 0% 21. 8% 2. 4% 1. 4% 5. 0% N. A. 22. 0% 14. 4% N. A. 0. 6% 0. 1% Same situation appears in Korea, Japan and Taiwan that they recycle food waste to feed the livestock at first step and to compost secondly.

But the technologies applied in Singapore may be a little different that the food waste is delivered to feed livestock and then delivered to the anaerobic lagoon. The three different technologies in recycling or reusing the food waste are judged by the following illustrations. 41 3. 1. 3. 1 Food waste composting Composting is one means of reducing the problems associated with landfills, incinerators, and other food waste disposal methods. There are as many different ways to compost as there are people who compost! There are four basic ingredients needed to compost:

Oxygen, Water, Carbon ("Brown material such as wood chips, brown leaves, or shredded newspaper), and Nitrogen ("Green" wet waste such as grass clippings, or fruit and vegetable scraps from your kitchen). If you have these ingredients, you can compost at your home, office, or school. Figure 3. 2 shows how food waste flows in a composting way. Figure 3. 2 Food waste flowchart in composting way from http://www. wastereduction. unc. edu/CampusRecycling/FoodWasteComposting. aspx For food wastes compost, there are some benefits and deficiencies in it. Benefits of Compost 42 ? ? Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests. Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material. ? ? Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint. Compost is a marketable product Besides the illustration above, households, businesses and institutions may save money by composting items such as food scraps while sending less waste to landfills and incinerators.

In addition, you can even get the payback from selling compost. Deficiency of Compost: If food waste is not incorporated into the soil it loses nitrogen to the atmosphere and may retain less nitrogen than the compost. Composting requires a time commitment to properly manage the windrows to produce quality compost. Specialized windrow turners may be required, but they can come at with a high price tag. The composting site and storage for finished product can use a considerable area of land. Money and time may be spent advertising, packaging, and managing the business. 3. 1. 3. 2 Feed animals

The feeding of food waste or garbage to swine and other livestock animals is a common practice throughout the world and is often concentrated around metropolitan centers. Food plate waste (formerly referred to as garbage) may be fed to other livestock species, but has most often been used as a source of feed for swine. High disposal costs and fees encourage the feeding of food/plate waste. The advantages in applying this measure are listed below: a) It can eliminate a large amount of food waste. 43 b) It can save the feeding cost by replacing the fodder. c) Elevate the rates of using resources . 1. 3. 3 Anaerobic digestion If 50 percent of the food waste generated each year in the U. S. was anaerobically digested, enough electricity would be generated to power 2. 5 million homes for a year. With the passing of Halloween, millions of pounds of pumpkins have turned from seasona l decorations to trash destined for compost heaps or landfills. The story is a little different in Oakland, California. Thanks to the pioneering work of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), discarded pumpkins and other food waste are used as a source of renewable electricity. How is that possible?

First, waste haulers gather post-consumer food waste and deliver it to EBMUD‘s anaerobic digesters. Inside these giant tanks, bacteria break down the food waste and release methane gas as a byproduct. EBMUD captures this gas and uses it to generate electricity in onsite generators. A ton of food waste provides about 367 m3 of gas, and digesting 100 tons of food wastes five days a week can generate enough electricity to power 1,000 homes. Once the food waste has been digested, the remaining solids make an excellent natural fertilizer, so they can be used to get next year‘s pumpkin crop started.

Figure 2. 9 shows how it works. Figure 3. 4. shows how the food waste is recycled or reused in a anaerobic digested way. Firstly, the food waste from industrial, commercial and schools will be collected. And then it will be sent into Centralized Anaerobic Digestion. After the anaerobic digestion for food waste, it will be converted into two valuable products, renewable ener gy and fertilizer, which is used to supply electric power and indirectly reduce the GHGs from coal burning in the thermal power plant and amend soil respectively. 44 Figure 3. 4 Food waste flowchart in anaerobic digestion way.

The merits for anaerobic digestion are listed below: a) Generated biogas can be recycled and utilized. It can be used directly as a fuel or for biogas power generation. b) c) Digestion residues (ie, residual sludge) can be used as primary organic fertilizer raw materials. The concentrated sludge dewatering filtrate can be used as plant fertilizer or aquaculture utilization. d) e) f) The odor is easy to control and hard to escape. Compared with the compost product, organics can be more completely and equally composted. The treatment effect is stable and suitable for engineering applications. 3. . 4 Barrie rs in food waste recycle/reuse in Hong Kong There is a large capacity of food waste generation in Hong Kong as above mentioned. Only a certain small part is disposed in a Green way and the other part is generally dumped into the landfill. This will not only have an adverse effect on our environment but also cause the resources waste. Why 45 does the situation in HK act like this? First of all, the amount of food waste generation in HK is larger and larger while EPD is only concentrating in the technologies of food waste recycle/reuse rather than reducing food wastes from the sources.

The lack of education in food wastes may be the second reason. Hong Kong is a multi-cultural city with numerous restaurants. However, the public lacks the concept of saving food. In neighbouring countries like Korea and Taiwan, the average food waste amount per person is 20-30% less. Thirdly, the number of effective policies in Hong Kong introduced to the food waste manage ment is lower than some other countries. A project in Taiwan called ? 2007-2012 Public Development Program-General Waste Resource Recycling Promotion Program? was conducted to achieve proper treatment of all collected food waste and to complement the ?

Zero Waste? policy. In Guangzhou, ? Interests bind system? (????? ) was introduced that residents who were taking an active part in the garbage classification, organizers and sanitation workers would earn a certain amount of money according to the benefits of recycled resources. So it really makes a connection between households and garbage classification and encourages people to be more motivated in protecting our environment. Fourthly, the recent sharp increase of premium and rent are dragging the development o f recycled food wastes. In 2001, EPD promotes a programme called Environment and Conservation Fund ?

Community Waste Recovery Projects? which is attracted by lots of communities to participate. However, the sharp cost in maintaining the projects almost results in the end of the plans lifetime. Fifthly, the technologies in recycling and reusing the food wastes are not developed very well and many programmes are just on the way. In Japan, TM Corporation invented ERS (Environmental Recycling System) that is a High-Speed Composting (Fermentation & Drying) System which can convert a batch of organic matter or waste into value-added products such as fertilizer or animal feed within 2-24 hours.

While in Hong Kong, it usually takes half a month in converting the food wastes 46 to composts. In Sweden, 35% of the recycled food is devoted to be fermented with methane to generate electric power. Last but not least, the majority approaches in recycling the food waste in Hong Kong is composting. The government also encourages the privates to convert the food wastes to composts. However, the composts offered by the privates were hard to be found the markets. Many people who lost their capital in compost investment ever are not confident with this technology.

In addition, Food waste is always mixed with general waste in the kitchen e. g. plastics, knife, cans etc and food waste barrels is usually too heavy to move. And for most of the hotels and restaurants, additional storage space is needed for food waste. 3. 2 Recommendations The problem of food waste is not only about technical issues such as waste treatment; beyond that, cultural themes like the idea of consumption and human relationship with nature are involved too.

Moreover, the solution to it should not be restricted to individual action; government policy and even cultural change should also play a significant role. From two frameworks in reducing food waste in UK and US as references, the suggestions for the solutions elaborated below are in a same order which are shown in Figure 3. 5 and 3. 6. 47 Figure 3. 5 The food waste pyramid from http://www. companyshop. ltd. uk/corporate-social-responsibility/disposal-route. aspx Figure 3. The food waste pyramid from US. http://www. epa. gov/foodrecovery/

The government or the organizations faced with food waste should make some public service advertisements about the impacts on the environment, create a website to educate public in food waste reduction and even can organize some activities to enhance the people‘s comprehension of the food waste knowledge and starving in other countries. In addition, the society should set up a correct concept for the food consumption. 48 An organization called Food Angel in Hong Kong is working excellent in reducing the food waste from source. It collects food from all segments of food industry which is usually abandoned due to some reasons.

Then they prepare healthy nutritional meal boxes in their own professional kitchen and finally deliver the meal boxes to individuals and families in need. The government should encourage and reward the organizations like Food Angel who can reduce the food waste from sources. The government should make several effective policies on the food waste. System of rewards and penalties to the charity organizations and commercial companies associated with the food waste should be set up. And more programme on reducing the food waste from sources should be carried out and encouraged to be conducted.

In addition, new and high efficiency technologies should be made an effort to develop. Furthermore, due to the high cost including premium and the rent for food waste recycling, EPD should give a hand like increase the amount of subsidy to the committee to help them to turn the corner. Generally speaking, in consideration with the nowadays situation in HK, the experiences from Korea and Japan can be a good example to learn with. We deduce that the food waste recycled in Hong Kong should follow in this order: 1) Feed animals; 2)Used to compost; 3)Deliver to the anaerobic lagoon.

The reason for the first one is that the animals can have a good digestion with it and only generate manure rather than leachate or waste residuals. The reason for the second one is that proper compost may content the market and also reduce a certain amount of food waste to be dumped into landfill. The last reason is that after the anaerobic digestion it‘ll generate electric power which can be used by residents and can also reduce the carbon dioxide from coal burning in Tsing Yi Power Station. In addition, new and high efficiency technologies should be made an effort to develop.

To acquire best cost-efficiency and the lowest impact on the environment, the combination of 3 main technologies in nowadays should be conducted as well. To make the technologies run safely and 49 smoothly, food waste classification should also be in deep consideration. At the meanwhile, people who are authorized by EPD may have the right to ticket when they check the classification of the food waste. In the future, we may transform food waste into laundry detergent, plastic ingredients, and a host of everyday products, in a discovery that may ease pressure on the city's bulging landfills.

According to the research made by an environmental scientist at City University of Hong Kong, food waste can be transformed into bioenergy that can be used to generate heat and electricity, and at the same time reduce the volume of food waste destined for landfills by at least 50%. 4 Conclusion While our neighbor—Koran and Taiwan made an great achievement in the food waste problem, Hong Kong just started to focus on this kind of problem because of the full- load of landfills by 2018. The collection and recycling strategies applied in recent years may reduce the volume of food waste sent to landfill.

But as Hong Kong is one of the largest generation areas of food waste in the world, it is still doubtful whether the recycling rate of food waste can catch up with the present increasing rate of food waste. Therefore, the government should pay more attention on the minimization of food waste and the cooperation with unofficial organization to reduce the generation of food waste in the future. With both the strategies of minimization and reuse/recycling, the food waste prob lems can be solved effectively in Hong Kong.

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