Can the unavoidable food waste from small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) be put to good use?
A feasibility study summarises research undertaken July 2023-February 2024 into the feasibility of a food waste collection service for food SMEs in North Lancashire to produce compost at the local scale and support a circular food system.
There are many motivating factors to reduce food waste and do something useful with it. The hospitality industry alone wastes 1.7 million tonnes of food. Not only does this cost money, it costs the environment, too: UK food waste is associated with greenhouse gas emissions of over 25 million tonnes.(1)
New regulations for streaming food waste published in October 2023 makes food waste an important issue for SMEs. These regulations mean all businesses, schools and hospitals in England must arrange for the separate collection of food waste by 31 March 2025 or 2027, depending on their size.
The study highlights smaller projects in the UK (and worldwide) collecting food waste from businesses and households to create compost to return or sell back to the community to use on the land, in a circular economy system. Streaming unavoidable food waste to local compost schemes can reduce CO2e emissions by reducing transport and by breaking it down aerobically in a compost bin as opposed to going landfill or incineration.
As well as being a powerful way to take action to reduce climate impact, this hyper-local
composting approach to managing SME food waste also produces a valuable resource for local gardens, food growing projects and more. Smaller scale compost schemes can produce compost which has stayed hot enough for long enough to be sanitised but not super heated to kill all the useful microbiology, which occurs in most large scale composting facilities. It also avoids digging up peat bogs or shipping coir across the world to make compost.
This compost is referred to as living compost or biologically complete. It is made slowly and left undisturbed during the cooling and maturation stages, and by keeping temperatures below 60-65 degrees celsius. This allows the growth of a high ratio of diverse microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, recyclers, and nematodes) and minerals which can inoculate soils with life, capture carbon, and allow growth of more nutrient dense food.(2) It eliminates the need for artificial fertilisers as the microorganisms make the nutrients available to plants. A biologically complete compost has a high fungi-to-bacteria ratio to ensure that crops and vegetables can thrive in the soil, and it also boosts yields and reduces weeds.(3) The fungal count increases when the compost is given the opportunity to properly mature and is undisturbed during the maturation phase.
Businesses that took part in this research (survey, interview, focus groups) were very interested in the idea of a local scheme collecting their food waste and turning it back into compost. Most businesses said that reducing their environmental impact was the biggest driver for them to join this sort of scheme, and the majority were particularly interested in a local food waste collection scheme as opposed to a private food waste collector, especially if the price of collection was competitive.
The report presents four different food waste collection scheme business models including different composting set-ups, costs and finances and possible funding available:
- A scheme supported by the local council to collect business food waste on a larger scale across the district.
- A large district-wide collection scheme creating compost on different sites around the district.
- Localised projects collecting business food waste and creating compost as part of a membership scheme in different parts of the district.
- A model of small groups of businesses forming collectives to purchase food waste compost tumblers to process their own waste.
So how can we learn from this report and turn the unavoidable food waste in the district into this amazing living compost? Closing Loops is hosting an event to launch the report and bring interested people together to explore and develop the recommended models:
Tuesday 18 June 10:30am – 1pm
The Reading Room, The Storey, Meeting House Lance, Lancaster LA1 1TH
If you are interested but can’t make it please contact diana_cl@lessuk.org
The Mycelium Network is a valuable network for anyone interested in starting a local composting scheme. This shared bank of resources and advice would be a good foundation and scaffolding to any project as it got started and become established.
(1) https://wrap.org.uk/taking-action/food-drink/actions/action-on-food-waste
(2) https://www.soilfoodweb.com/resources/animations-videos/?vID=372925873&h=707aa77 aa3
(3) https://www.soilfoodweb.com/resources/animationsvideos/?vID=372479571&h=4cced96d80
