integrated food waste management for climate change mitigation in developing asian countries

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

Integrated Food Waste Management for Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Asian Countries

Janya SANG-ARUN, ResearcherMagnus BENGTSSON, Senior Policy ResearcherTaib SHAZWIN, Intern

Integrated Waste Management and Resource Efficiency

Sang-Arun et al. IGES | http://www.iges.or.jp CCDC-2010 , Feb 19-22, 2010, Kottayam, India

Institute for Global Environmental StrategiesFood waste management and climate change

Introduction to IGES

• IGES is an NPO based in Japan (5 branch offices)• Working on policy-research and providing services and

facilitating policy development to Ministries in Japan (esp. Ministry of Environment) and Governments in Asia and the Pacific.

• 7 Divisions: Waste and Resources Management, Natural Resource Management (Forest, Fresh Water, Biodiversity), Climate Policy, Climate Market Mechanism, Environmental Education, Economic Analysis, and Program Management Office.

• Download publications: www.iges.or.jp

2

http://www.iges.or.jp/



Presentation outline

3

• Potential GHG emissions and reductions from food waste

• Food waste management hierarchy based on 3Rs• Example of food waste management in Cambodia,

Thailand and India• Conclusion



Waste composition in developing Asia countries

4

Waste composition

Developing Asia* (%)

India** (%)

Food waste 31-74 40Plastic 5-17 4Paper 4-20 5Metal 0.1-6 1Glass 0.2-7 2Miscellaneous 2-55 47

*Compile from various sources

** toxic link, 2002



Potential GHG emissions through landfill of food waste

Country MSW (Mt/yr)

Food waste (Mt/yr)

GHG emissions(MtCO2eq/yr)

Shallow landfill Deep landfill

China 120 60 25.2 63.0India 42 16.8 7.1 17.6Indonesia 22.5 16.6 7.0 17.5Thailand 14.7 9.4 4.0 9.9Viet Nam 12.8 7.7 3.2 8.1Philippines 11 5.0 2.1 5.2Malaysia 8.7 4.3 1.8 4.5Bangladesh 4.9 3.3 1.4 3.5

Sum 236.6 123.1 51.8 129.35



Potential GHG emissions reduction through waste reduction, composting, and anaerobic digestion

Management practice GHG emissions reduction compared to landfill

(KgCO2eq/kg of food waste)

Waste reduction 0.42 - 1.05

Anaerobic digestion 0.25 - 1.05

Composting 0.07 - 1.03

6



Preferable food waste management technology

7

Low GHG emissions

Efficient resource recovery

Low energy input

Low monetary investment

Low environmental impact

Simple and easy to handle



Integrated food waste management hierarchy

8

Reduce over

consumption

Human consumption

Animal feed

Anaerobic digestion

Composting

Mechanical biological treatment (combined with landfill/incineration)

Sanitary landfill equipped with methane collection

Reduce overall environmental impact

Main Benefits Notes

Direct nutrient recovery

Direct nutrient recovery

Energy and indirect nutrient recovery

Indirect nutrient recovery

Reduce impact from landfill/ incineration

Reduce methane emission

High quality leftover food

Medium quality leftover food

Low quality food waste, high investment capacity

Low-medium quality food waste

Unsorted waste

Unsorted waste, high investment

capacityLess preferable

Most preferable

Reuse

Recycle

Recovery

Reduce



Urban Composting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

• Waste generation is 1,200 ton/day• 30 ton/day of waste from food market is composting by a

NGO (COMPED)

9



• Compost price is 75 USD/ton of compost

• GHG emissions reduction is around 1.7 tCO2eq/day

10



Urban Composting in Bangkok, Thailand

• Waste generation : 8,500 tons/day• Composting: 1,000 tons/day of waste • Compost price: 63 USD/ton• GHG emissions reduction: 659 tCO2eq/day

11



Household composting in Bangkok (pilot scale)

12



Anaerobic digestion in Rayong, Thailand• Waste generation: 60 tons/day• Capacity of the plant: 60 tons/day• Actual operation: 25-30 tons/day• Use of biogas: Generating electricity sell to national grid• GHG emissions reduction: 26 tCO2eq/day

13



Anaerobic digestion in Kerala, India

14

• Initiated by BIOTECH India (Trivandrum, Kochi, etc)• 35% of investment cost is subsidized• 16,000 household with waste input of 3 kg/day • 220 community’s digesters • 25 schools with capacity of 50 kg of waste per day• 45 plants with capacity of 250 kg of waste per day is

generating electricity from biogas produced• 30-50% saving LPG use for cooking• Short term economic return



Biogas plant at a school in Trivandrum

• Plant capacity: 100 kgs of waste input• Current waste input: 25-30 kgs + 20 l kitchen wastewater• Energy saving: 35%• Effluent: use as liquid fertilizer in school• Plan to collect food waste from other organization

15



Biogas plant at YWCA (dormitory) in Trivandrum

• Capacity: 25 kgs of waste input• Waste input: 25 kgs waste + 75 kitchen wastewater• Effluent: discharge to wastewater canal• Energy saving: not yet obvious

16



Biogas plant at a fish market in Trivandrum

• Capacity: 250 kgs waste input/day• Use of biogas: Generating electricity (5kW) for lighting

the market and community road

17



Household biogas project in Trivandrum

• Waste input 3 kg/day• Size: 1 m3

• Biogas use: cooking• Effluent: use for gardening• Saving 50% of LPG for cooking

18



Mechanical Biological Pre-Treatment (MBT)

• Implement in Phitsanulok, Thailand since 1999• Could reduce GHG emissions and extend lifetime of landfill• Plastic waste is segregated before dumping into landfill

19



Conclusion

• Food waste contributes large amount of GHG emissions from the waste sector of developing Asian countries.

• The government should promote use of food waste as a resource (e.g. animal feed, biogas, and composting) in household or community scale.

• To increase efficiency of food waste utilization, food waste separation at source is required.

• Not all of food waste can be separated, MBT should be applied for mixed waste.

20



IGES future work on food waste and climate change

1. Supporting local governments by developing an implementation guideline and decision tool for promoting use of organic waste in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

2. Providing training workshop to local governments in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

3. Study on multiple benefits of organic waste management.

4. Biomass town for resource efficiency and climate change mitigation in developing Asian countries.

21



Acknowledgement

Financial supporters:• Ministry of Environment, Japan (MOEJ)• Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change

Research (APN)

CCDC2010 Organizers

22



23

Thank You

integrated food waste management for climate change mitigation in developing asian countries

Documents