Food waste to wealth: Key into it

According to the United Nations UN, one-third of the food produced globally get wasted annually. That amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes and a staggering sum of $990 billion. Apart from such massive economic loss, it has both social and cultural implications as it also leads to environmental degradation. It leads to Greenhouse gas emissions of methane gas that is 25 times more degrading than carbon dioxide gas. By that it traps heat in the atmosphere, which environmental experts claim that if it was a country, it would be third in ranking behind the United States and China.

Added to that is that food wastes lead to loss of water, energy and land.

With regards to loss in biodiversity it causes deforestation, and habitat loss. It also results in lost revenue and increased production costs. Apart from causing social insecurity food wastes are inimical to the wellbeing of 9 % of the world’s population that is malnourished.

But trust man’s creative ingenuity as problem solvers for coming up with Upcycled foods by converting food wastes into value-added products. From the historical perspective, over time it was possible to turn food scraps into broths and composts. That is in addition to using it to feed livestock. With increase in food wastes more systemic and commercial initiatives were adapted with the involvement of small – scale entrepreneurs. In fact, scientific researches later revealed that some of the so-called wasted food items were still nutritious, flavourful and of course, consumable. That is in addition to turning such wastes into biofuel, fertilizer and as construction materials. Interesting, is it not? Yes, it is.

Amongst these wastes were “ugly” fruits, vegetables, spent grain from beer production and pulp from juiced fruits. They were all potential ingredients for new products that promote innovation, sustainability with unique selling points.

In specific terms, in India, a country recognized for its effective waste to wealth initiative kitchen waste management provides support by selling UCO for biofuel production. In addition to recycling, there is composting of food scraps and bio-methanation. All these reduce environmental degradation while creating new sources of income.

With regards to the Nigerian situation much more still needs to be done than said on converting food wastes into wealth. Though the process of collection of food wastes, sorting out and recycling are on, that of conversion to create a circular economy is far from expected. For instance, the Nigeria Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) has identified food processing companies that are combusting spent grains to support steam generation and others fermenting effluent for generating methane gas. That is for both boiler fuel and forklift fuel.

But it is concerned that the huge amount of rice husks produced at the Abakaliki Rice Mill, which is the largest hub for SME rice mills in Africa is left to waste. Yet, such rice husks have the potential to generate enough electricity to serve the entire state. That is according to UNIDO. There a need to use modern rice roll mills to separate at least 30 % of the husks for use.

Private companies that convert Waste to Wealth.

Using the Upcycling process several companies in advanced countries covert food wastes into value-added products, thereby rewriting the narrative of economic productivity and job creation. One of these is ReGrained.

It has been able to convert spent grains, which is a by- product of brewing process into Granola bars and Snack puffs. Sweet – tasting products they really are! In fact, so economically impactful the initiative is that the sales of these products jumped by 250 %, all because what was thought of as food waste is rich in both fibre and protein.

The next food company in this regard is Imperfect Foods. Using the so called ” Ugly” foods and vegetables it has expanded into 3 a wave-making grocery service company. So effective it has been since its coming on stream that it has rescued over £139 million (pounds) worth of food items from going into waste. Good enough, it offers consumers products at lower costs. That is in addition to reducing environmental degradation.

The third one is called Toast Ale. The UK-based company produces beer from surplus bread slices that would have been considered as waste.

By so doing it has upscaled over 2 million slices of bread, while creating jobs and protecting the environment from degradation.

So, how do we key into this beautiful opportunity of converting waste to wealth? That is the million-naira question.

The answer lies in Public Private Partnerships, PPP into identifying the opportunities available in this largely untapped industry. Cost implications should be worked out such that states that want to actively engaged engage the youths in skills acquisition should sponsor some of them to such companies to learn the nitty – gritty of converting waste to wealth.

It is worthy of note that Covenant University, Ota Ogun state came up with the Waste to Wealth Initiative back in November 2014. Though its focus was on the three areas of pet bottles, papers and food wastes, the last listed was converted into manure by composting.

Other universities should learn from such forward – looking innovation and add value to the country through job creation, and saving water, energy and land lost through food wastages.