How Big A Problem Is Food Waste?
Food waste is a big deal across the world. The lost resources alone are staggering, but the impacts on carbon and methane production are massive. Some sobering statistics[1] are that:
- One third of the world's food is wasted.
- 25% of water used in agriculture is used to grow food that is ultimately wasted – throwing away one burger wastes the same amount of water as a 90 minute shower.
- Food waste produces 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- If food waste was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind the USA and China.
• Australia produced 7.6 million tonnes, or 312 kg per capita, of food waste every year, and 70% of this is edible.
• AUD$36.6bn is the estimated cost to the economy of food wasted.
o AUD$19.3bn of this comes from households. This is approximately AUD$2,000-2,500 per household per year.
o The remaining AUD$17.3bn is broken down as follows:
- AUD$6.5bn – Hospitality Consumption
- AUD$4.4bn – Retail
- AUD$2.9bn – Processing
- AUD$1.6bn – Institutional Consumption
- AUD$1.2bn – Primary Production
- AUD$0.8bn – Distribution.
• Annually, 17.5 million tonnes of CO2-e is generated from food waste production and disposal.
o This CO2-e is equivalent to the annual emissions from Hazelwood power station which was considered Australia’s highest emitting coal fired power station.
o This is also equivalent to approximately 3.5% of the Nation’s emissions.
• Wasted food in Australia uses 2,628.3 gigalitres of water across its lifecycle. This equates to:
o the volume of water in five Sydney Harbours.
o a massive 286 litres of water, per person, per day.
• More than 25 million hectares is required to grow this food waste – a landmass larger than the state of Victoria.
[1] Department of Agriculture, Water & the Environment (Australia) website
There are 6 Worldwide Problems that need to be solved in dealing effectively with Food Waste:
Carbon & Methane
Risk Exposure
Lost Water
Lost Nutrients
Lost Usable Land
Cost to Dump
What Technologies Deal With Food Waste?
The technologies available to deal with food waste are the good old compost bin, grinders, dehydrators and digesters.
- Compost bins are smelly, dirty, take ages to break down food waste and can attract vermin.
- Grinders grind the food at high speed but the results still need to be further processed to be useful.
- Dehydrators remove the water and break the food down into a dirt-like substance. This happens in less than a day.
- Digesters essentially speed up the composting process – sometimes using microbes.
BUT… digester machines actually ADD WATER to the food waste, creating a slurry sent out as sewerage. In addition to losing the water & nutrients inherent in the food waste, more water is wasted, and the slurry outflow can actually INCREASE waste costs for the business.
| 6 Problems of Food Waste | Dehydrator | Grinder/Dehydrator | Digester |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reduces carbon/methane emissions |  | | |
| Reduces waste cartage/sewerage costs | | |  |
| Reduces volume going to landfill | | | |
| Reclaims water | | | |
| Reclaims nutrients which can be sold as value added products | | | |
| Reduces risk exposure to vermin, OHS issues | | | |
How Does Enviromatica Meet These Challenges?
Enviromatica's access to world leading food waste shredding and bio-dehydration technologies addresses the 6 problems of food waste directly as follows:
Who Else Uses Bio-Dehydrators?
