2017 5 18 Food waste & funerals

JAPAN
Food Recycling Law and the Recycling Loop
Japan has created many measures to reduce food waste, their most successful measures comes
from the a law enacted in 2001 called the Promotion of Utilization of Recyclable Food Waste
Act, or also known as the Food Recycling Law. This law encouraged businesses to create
cyclical manufacturing processes that would reduce food waste, reuse their food waste, and
recycle any leftover waste (the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle). A revision in 2007 promoted
businesses to turn their waste into compost or animal feed. They also encouraged businesses to
purchase crops grown by farmers using waste-derived product such as animal feed and compost.
This process created recycling loops in the industry.
The recycling loops generated less Greenhouse Gas emissions and increased the economic
effectiveness due to the waste disposal process.

An Example of a Recycling Loop

The supermarket chain, Uny Co. Ltd, found a way to utilize the recycling loop most effectively.
Their food waste is collected by the recycling business Sanko Ltd. Sanko takes the waste and
manufactures fertilizer that is then used by the farmers who use this fertilizer to grow crops, raise
fish, and work in the forestry. These crops are in turn purchased by Uny to sell at their
supermarket chains.

Eco -towns and Self-Sufficiency

Tokyo also started a Tokyo Super Eco-Town Project. In this, companies were invited to take part
in a larger recycling process based on the idea of the 3 Rs. In this project, Alfo Ltd. uses cooking
oil to deep-fry business related food waste. This in turns sterilizes it and dries it to produce a
product used for animal feed.
Japan made a commitment to increase its self-sufficiency when it realized that its animal feed
relied on imports outside of the country. It made a goal of increasing its self-sufficiency from 26
to 38% by 2020 from its recycling loops for animal feed. By doing so, the country has been able
to lessen the need for imports and emphasize more on domestic product. Moreover, domestically
raised livestock fed with imported feed were not considered as domestic in origin. This allowed
the agriculture industry to increase it rate in self-sufficiency for both livestock and imports.

Weather and the Looming AI Takeover

Weather is a huge contributor to the efficiency, or lack thereof, in a food chain. The Japan
Weather Association estimated that over 30% of industries are impacted by weather related risks.
It has provided a solution that uses anartificial intelligence system that will track the weather and
analyze sales data and other factors to project consumer trends. By doing so, companies can
predict surpluses and excesses in inventory and have the ability to scale back production when
necessary.
This research project has focused on several products including cold ramen sauce, tofu, coffee,
and carbonated drinks from Mizkan holdings, Sagamiya Foods, Nestle Japan, and Pokka
Sapporo Food & Beverage, respectively. Other retailers such as Lawson have also provided their
sales data to help with this project. From this research, it predicted that would be able to reduce
food waste for these companies by 40% in noodle sauce and 30% in tofu.
The system also looked to twitter to analyze consumer trends in Twitter. Weather greatly affects
our shopping needs and wants. A hot humid day may call for ice cream but could be avoided on a
rainy, cold one. The AI is able to track these trends and determine consumer needs according to
the weather changes.
Although the technology is still premature and lacks enough data to make precise predictions, the
concept is fairly sound. By being able to predict weather patterns in accordance to consumer
habits, companies can have a stronger food supply chain that will distribute just the right amount
of food to people who will be happy to eat it!

ROMANIA
Romanians include a lot of their folk traditions when it comes to their funeral services. The
ceremonies are rather complex and involve masks, costumes, games and singing. These
behaviours used to be part of Romanian traditions before Christian influence, and are still present
to this day, however they have been toned down quite a bit. The party like rituals are now
condensed to night watches if the family of the deceased choose to have them. The night watch is
a wake that takes place during a whole night on the eve of the funeral in order to watch over the
body of the deceased and protect it from evil spirits. Romanians refer to the deceased as a pure
and white traveller since they believe the deceased is on a 40-day journey towards the
judgement of God that leads them into the afterlife. Professional performers are often hired in
order to lead prayers for the dead. This is done because Romanian folk traditions lead Romanians
to believe that the deceased will come back and haunt the family and community if their funeral
service is not done properly and with respect. So their traditions are often held in high regards
and are respected.

Interring the Deceased

The crowns that were mentioned in the previous section are placed on the casket of the deceased
before it is lowered and interred tot he earth. After the burial ceremony is complete, a concession
table is usually set up at the graveside that offers wine and traditional Romanian foods.