Trends in Food Waste Recycling

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  • Kusube Takasei
    Ishikawa Prefectural University, Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology
  • Takatsuki Hiroshi
    Ishikawa Prefectural University, Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology

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Other Title
  • 食品廃棄物リサイクルの動向
  • ショクヒン ハイキブツ リサイクル ノ ドウコウ

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Description

With 2006 marking the target date for recycling obligations adopted under the Food Recycling Law of 2001, we are looking into trends in the recycling of food waste products.<BR>Currently, around 50% of waste products from the entire food products industry get recycled ; with most food waste being converted into fertilizer, compost, or material for animal feed. In addition to food waste, a growing amount of other kinds of organic waste, such as livestock manure and wastewater sludge, are also being recycled into fertilizer and composting material. In spite of this however, as the area of agricultural land to use such recycled material shrinks, oversupplies of compost and fertilizer can be expected in the future.<BR>Despite the use of recycled material gaining traction, efforts to restrict and reduce waste during production processes are generally lagging behind. The concept of resource recycling is not just about recycling; rather, the idea of sustainability holds that waste products need to be first reduced at the source, without solely relying on improvements in how food waste is recycled.<BR>In the end, it is our very own eating habits and lifestyles that have a huge impact on the origins of food recycling issues. Here in Japan, there is an approximately 30% oversupply of food in terms of the calorie base of the country, which means our eating habits are inevitably structured to produce massive amounts of food waste. Consequently, dealing with food recycling issues requires not only recycling of the waste, but also making improvements to our eating habits and lifestyles based on the keywords and concepts of “food safety” and “local production for local consumption.”

Journal

  • Waste Management Research

    Waste Management Research 18 (2), 120-128, 2007

    Japan Society of Material Cycles and Waste Management

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