Councils determined to recycle food waste

Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) and Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) have embarked on food waste recycling programmes.

Despite several setbacks that cost them in terms of effort, time and money, both the local councils are adamant to forge ahead with the programme favouring awareness instead of stressing on the enforcement.

Similar setbacks

When Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) offered to pay RM1 in exchange for 1kg of food waste in 2015, it was recognised as a Blue Ocean Strategy.

But this year, MPSJ deputy president Mohd Zulkarnain Che Ali said they had to scrap the deal after stones hidden in the food waste damaged their compost machines at the Integrated Biomass Centre (IBC) in Bandar Bukit Puchong.

The machines, costing RM156,800, have since been repaired. Their origins can be traced back to the early years of the council’s efforts to introduce the concept of food waste separation to the public.

They arrived in 2008 and were first placed in a compost facility in USJ1 as part of a year-long pilot project funded by the Denmark-based Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) to transform food waste into compost.

Four hawker centres in USJ7, PJS11, SS13 and SS15 were selected as waste generators for the initiative.

A food court manager in PJS11 recalled how hawkers reacted when the council introduced the food waste separation concept at an awareness campaign.

At first, many were positive and receptive. The hawkers did not have trouble separating organics, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, from the non-organics such as plastic bags and packaging boxes. But the table clearers found the process cumbersome.

“There is no time to spend on sorting food waste when you have to clean tables for 1,000 diners daily,” he said.

As a result, staff at the compost facility in USJ1 had to don rubber gloves to pick out straws, spoons and plastic bags. This was not too much of a burden as the initiative was still new at the time, so the amount of food waste received did not exceed that of a large gunny sack of rice.

It is a scenario Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Environmental Health assistant inspector Marini Mohammad has become familiar with after three years on road shows for the 3R campaign.

When MBPJ set up a compost centre in SS2 to collect food waste from the morning market and hawker centre to be turned into liquid fertiliser and biogas this April, Marini said protesters tried to sabotage the facility by breaking the equipment.

“We did not press charges although I knew who was responsible. But to prove the council’s commitment, I kept watch at night to guard the facility,” said Marini.

Solutions to problems?

MPSJ Solid Waste and Public Cleaning Department senior assistant director Mohd Hafiz Sharif said it would be ideal if the councils had the backing of law enforcers to assist with awareness efforts.

But he pointed out that even if the local councils were able to compound acts of errant food waste disposal, there remains the question of evidence establishment.

If plastic spoons and straws are found in a food-only waste bin, how does one identify the culprit behind it?

MBPJ has a solution in numbered waste bins. Originally employed as a method to keep track of the bins’ location, it also indicates where the trash comes from.

So far, from 300 bins purchased by the council, 30 are in the SS2 food court and 20 in the morning market.

But the councils are not comfortable with the idea of applying force on the food waste recycling programme, preferring to use gentle persuasion and focusing on target groups instead.

With MPSJ, this means bringing the recycling campaign to 77 schools located within its jurisdiction.

“There are 40,000 students here and they make up 10% of the Selangor population.

“We may not be able to convince the parents, but if a child tells a parent to separate food waste, I am sure the message will hit home because parents today are more likely to listen to their children,” said Mohd Zulkarnain.

Ringgit and sen

But the cost of effective message spreading, one that also involves show and tell, is not cheap.

For example, MBPJ had to set aside RM850,000 for its SS2 compost facility.

In a recent campaign, MPSJ presented 17 rotating bins, each costing RM500, to schools.

“The cost is nothing compared to the tipping fees we are paying for sending food waste to the landfill,” said Marini.

MPSJ‘s sales of compost derived from food waste has jumped from RM9,000 to RM20,000 within two years. In the first year, many bags were given away but after samplings produced good results, sales soared.

She reasons if taxpayers can fork out RM540,000 per year to put food waste into landfills, why not choose to pay for an effort that will unlock more profits earned from creating chemical-free fertilisers, bio gas and a host of other recycled materials like liquid enzymes and agricultural produce?

So far, sales figures on products created by MPSJ and MBPJ from food waste recycling have been encouraging.