Food waste

The Community Food Assessment Project was designed by the Faculty of Land and Food System in the University of British Columbia. The general focus of this project series is to address food related issues in different communities within British Columbia; therefore, more research and actions can be taken to improve these concerns. For the Agriculture Sciences 350 course in UBC, students take part in the project to help investigate various areas and research on plausible actions to polish the communities. One of the current conditions in the focused community, the City of Vancouver, is the overwhelming amount of food waste being sent to landfill. If the food waste were composted instead, not only does it reduce the space quantity waste going to the landfill, the organic matters are also reused. This paper discusses food waste management in the City of Vancouver and determines the most feasible method to handle the food waste rather than contributing more to the landfills. By interviewing professionals in the industry that have an extensive knowledge in the field and obtaining information from internet sources and books, a few possible methods were found, such as: composting, animal feed, anaerobic digestion and Gore Cover. The advantages and disadvantages of each method were then compared, by using indicators such as cost, efficiency and end products. The comparison presented the most feasible method for the food waste management not only because of the relative lower cost, sufficient efficiency and harmless end products, but also due to the possible improvement of the sustainability component within the community. The final conclusion drawn from this project is to use the Gore Cover technology to manage food waste in the City of Vancouver.
II. Introduction
Vancouver waste management deals with two classifications of waste: solid and liquid waste. Solid wastes are any solid, semi-solid and liquid waste disposed by industrial, commercial and agricultural companies