Food waste composting: natural fermentation method
The scale of food waste globally has become an urgent environmental issue to address. Food and Agriculture Organization (“FAO”) of the United Nations estimated that about one third of the food production in the world is wasted. The purpose of this study is to show how raw food waste (RFW) can b...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/74280/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/74280/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/74280/7/74280%20%20Food%20Waste%20Composting.pdf |
| Summary: | The scale of food waste globally has become an
urgent environmental issue to address. Food and Agriculture
Organization (“FAO”) of the United Nations estimated that
about one third of the food production in the world is wasted. The
purpose of this study is to show how raw food waste (RFW) can
be composted naturally at source. Since 2014, AUTO-CITY
Management has been composting RFW segregated and
collected from its tenants. It uses a natural fermentation method
which can conveniently compost and transform the RFW
including meat, bones, shells, skins, vegetables, fruit peels, oil
and sauces into matured food waste (MFW) compost within days.
Semi-automated system is used to facilitate the composting
process. From 2015 to 2018, the AUTO-CITY Management has
produced about 105 tons of MFW compost. The MFW compost,
which contains many types of nutrients and minerals, is used in
the research on natural farming of vegetables at AUTO-CITY.
The result shows that MFW compost can improve fertility of red
earth soil and when the MFW compost is at least 30% of the total
soil volume, vegetables can grow healthily with good yield. Red
earth soil was chosen over other soils because of its low pH 3.5,
poor nutrients, drainage and aeration. When demand for organic
vegetables increases, it will naturally increase the demand for
MFW compost and thus will encourage the composting of food
waste. In conclusion, food waste composting using the natural
fermentation method is a viable solution to address the global
environment issue caused by food waste. |
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