Kitchen waste recycling

Biology Project
Title: Kitchen Waste Recycling

Group leader:

Content
P.3 – 4 Introduction
P.5 Background
P.6 Data
P.7 Literature review
P.8 – 11 Method
P.12 – 13 Result
P.14 Discussion
P.15 Conclusion
P.16-18 Reflection
P.19 Reference
P.20 Group Member List
P.21 The End

Introduction
Firstly, we should define what kitchen waste is. Kitchen waste refers to the organic waste produced by food and drinks, including dishes, leftovers, edible food though expired, etc. This kitchen waste recycling scheme is mainly aim to reduce the amount of waste and reduce processing costs. Also, this plan could help to extend the life-span of landfills. This is a big challenge we are facing nowadays as the three landfills are going to be saturated in the very soon future. Therefore, reducing the amount of waste is the most important part of the scheme. At present, among 9,000 tons of municipal solid waste, one-third of the waste are accounted for kitchen waste, that means about 3000 tons (Referring to the diagram on the next page). Besides, the kitchen waste could provide green organic fertilizers after a series of processing. People may choose to use these fertilizers instead of the chemical pesticides. The organic one is much more environmentally-friendly when comparing with the chemical one.

1991年至2010年於堆填區棄置的固體廢物數量

About one-third of the waste are accounted for kitchen waste, even though the amount of waste is reducing year by year.

Background
Nowadays, more and more kitchen wastes are produced from the canteen. We can observe that, everyday there are many students cannot finish their meals. The unfinished meals would throw into the rubbish bin directly and became a part of waste. Undoubtedly, this kind of kitchen waste would be a burden of the canteen. It is because the canteen has to spend a lot of resources to handle the wastes. Moreover, our canteen often could not sell all their snacks which are also another source. We all know that the prepared food cannot store for a too long period of time and therefore the food must be sold on that day. When the food is unsalable, they would ultimately become part of the waste. If this kitchen waste recycling scheme could be implemented, there would be lots of benefits to the canteen. For example, the cost of dealing with the waste can be cut off. If this kind of expense can be reduced, the canteen could therefore spend more resources to improve the quality of their food. In the other words, all students would benefit from this scheme as they could enjoy a higher quality of meal. As a result, the canteen could also sell more products and there would be less kitchen waste formed which is actually a virtuous circle.
Data (Out of 118 interviewers)
Most of the interviewers agree to legislate and carry out the scheme.
Majority of the interviewers are willing to participate in this scheme.
Literature Review

From the news article, we can see that nowadays, the food waste has been increased about ninety percentage. The food waste in 2002 increased from 373 metric tons to 701 metric tons in 2005. As a result, the usage amount of landfills increased and the life of landfills decreased. Therefore, we need to execute the kitchen waste recycling scheme so that the amount of food waste in landfills can be decreased and to improve the lifestyle of Hong Kong people. As in the articles said, Hong Kong people waste a huge amount of food but there are no recycling channels, so to work on kitchen waste recycle scheme is necessary.

Method
For the method of recycling kitchen waste, we can consult the method used in Taiwan that using the kitchen waste recycling bins to collect the kitchen waste. After collected a certain amount of waste, a vehicle for recycling kitchen would collect those wastes and deliver to the recycling yards.
After recycling the kitchen waste, we should classify the types of the kitchen waste. There are two main types of kitchen waste. The first type is called ‘cooked waste’, also named as ‘compost kitchen waste’. Examples including uncooked vegetables, fruits, leafages, plants, etc. The other type is the more common one, that is compost to feed pigs. Examples inculding cooked food waste, rice, noodles, expired food such as biscuits, raw meats, fish, shrimps, etc.

(For domestic)

(For large-scale)

Result
Then a series of processing work are needed to carry out. First, pre- treatment was carried out. Source separated food waste delivered to the pilot plant is firstly taken to the enclosed area for manual sorting and draining of excessive waste water. The food waste is then mixed with bulking agents (e.g. saw dust, bark chips) to achieve optimum porosity and moisture content for the subsequent composting process. Then comes the composing process. The mixed waste is then fed to the composting drum units. Decomposition of food waste by biological bacteria action takes place inside the drum. Heat is released during the decomposition process. Temperature inside the drum is kept between 55℃ and 70℃ for pathogens killing and optimum decomposition. Curing was then carried out. After residing inside the composting drum for 10 days, the waste material becomes premature compost and is discharged. The premature compost is then piled on the curing pads to undergo a curing period of about 30 days to ensure complete decomposition. During the curing period, tilling and water spraying on the compost pile are carried out regularly to maintain optimum condition for decomposition. After all this, final products are produced. The mature composts are sieved by a vibrating product screen to remove bulking agents and contaminants before they are packed for delivery to the users. Bark chips screened out from the mature compost is reused in the composting process as bulking agents.

Discussion
Advantages of carrying out the kitchen waste recycling scheme:
1. It avoids the wastes at home decomposed and improve the hygiene of environment
2. Reduce the amount of the wastes; reduce the large amount of waste processing and also reducing the land fill and incineration plant
3. Reduce the levy of waste fees and waste disposal fees
4. The kitchen waste can convert into organic fertilizer to improve soil properties and green earth.
5. Can develop good habits of the people to cherish resources and create resources sustainable development of society.
Disadvantages of carrying out the kitchen waste recycling scheme:
1. Need money and time to prepare the process
2. Students have no experience to finish the process
3. This is difficult to collect a large amount of kitchen wastes.

After comparing both sides of the points, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Conclusion
We think that canteen should implement the scheme because we discover that many citizens waste large amount of food nowadays. To alleviate this situation, we need to train up the adolescents. Moreover, the training should be started as soon as possible. It is because all of us know that, habits are formed simply but really difficult to abstain.
Besides, canteen could also improve their image by carrying out the scheme which is also one of the benefits they could gain. If the canteen has a better image to the school, the canteen would have a high possibility to renewal. If we considering in the economic perspective, the canteen could also gain more customers, that is the students which could also bring benefits to the canteen.

Reflection
In my opinion, this proposal is great indeed. It is because the kitchen waste recycling scheme can bring about a lot of benefits to different stakeholders and in different perspectives. For example, the canteen could benefit from gain more customers; the students could have a better quality of food; the burden of the landfills could be reduced; a greener lifestyle is promoted, etc. Therefore I hope more people could follow the habit, that is to recycle the kitchen waste, or simply cut down the food waste to protect the environment.
After finishing this project, I am alerted by the data about the kitchen wastes. From reference to the data, we know that there are many kitchen wastes are wasted and it is a serious problem. Since that, landfills are filled up very soon. In this proposal, we know that how to resolve the problems and try our best to do better in our daily life. I will also encourage others people to do so and I hope it can help to reduce the burden of the landfills. Overall, I think it is a good scheme and I wish I can do better in other proposals.
During doing the proposal, I have a deep experience about the lifestyle of Hong Kong people. From the data on the amount of waste, I have discovered that the amount of kitchen waste increasing every year with large amount. Therefore, to keep the life of landfills longer, we need to take education to the people so that people can have the mind to change their lifestyle. If canteen carried out the scheme, it can give a help to bring up habit which is do not wasting food.
I used to leave some food when I went to have lunch. I did many researches on how kitchen wastes were recycled and how useful are the kitchen wastes. I think recycling the kitchen wastes is needed in Hong Kong. Since a lot of people don't know what to do with kitchen wastes, they just throw them in the rubbish bin. If there is a kitchen waste recycling scheme, citizens of Hong Kong will be willing to cooperate. I will not waste food anymore if there is a kitchen waste recycling scheme.
When we think about how to save the Earth, we always consider the reuse, recycle, reduce and replace. But we can’t always see the kitchen wastes recycle in Hong Kong. The proposal gives us the chance to consider that how to apply the recycling of kitchen wastes in our life. We faced some difficulties when we considered the content. For example, we must choose the method of process the kitchen wastes. Different ways of processing the kitchen wastes will use into different place. Some can be processed into the food of the pig; some can be processed into the fertilizer. For example, we need to collect the kitchen wastes from the school canteen. Then, we can process the wastes into the fertilizer but not the food for pig. We must choose the sufficient method to recycle the kitchen wastes carefully. This is a good chance for us to understand the method of recycling the kitchen wastes.

Reference
1. http://www.epb.taichung.gov.tw/swill/02/02_a.asp?id=17
2. http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/tc_chi/environmentinhk/waste/data/stat_treat.html
3. http://ngohk.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_6929.html
4. http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/tc_chi/environmentinhk/waste/prob_solutions/owt_food.html
5. http://www.my3q.com/research/yuli11/6224.phtml
6. http://futek168.myweb.hinet.net/course2.html
7. http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/prob_solutions/owt_kowloon.html

Group Member List
Group members / Job duties

The End!