Field Trip about food waste - 24 Feb 2020

This week our lecturer brings us to a field trip. We went to two different places. The first one is
the food waste process factory located at Rawang. It is about how they use food waste and make
something that can use.

Step :

1. Collect food waste from a few different places which are supermarkets, wet markets or
restaurants. Food waste was separated into different categories like spoiled vegetables,
leftover food, and animal organ.

2. Fill the piles with food waste, put black soldier fly larva into the food waste.

3. In the 14 -15 days, the black soldier fly larva will consume the food waste. After that, the
black soldier fly larva will come out from the food waste.

4. Workers will separate it into two categories, which one will continue breed and another
will be made into food for other animals like fish or chicken.

5. The food waste that had been processed by black soldier fly larva will become natural
fertilizer and it will benefit the environment.

Image 1: Food waste collected from different places.

Image 2 & 3: Places that keep and breed Black Soldier Fly.

Image 4: Food waste piles.

Image 5: Black soldier flies consuming food waste.

 Image 6: After 14-15days, black soldier flies turn into pupe.

Image 7: Fertilizer.

In the first field trip, I’ve learned something new. In my understanding, leftover food ends up in
landfills instead of being eaten, and I didn’t realize about the disadvantages. Before this field
trip, I do not know that leftover food can be used as fertilizer after being process. It is a valuable
trip to the sustainability class. I hope that there will be more and more people understanding the
importance of how to make food waste into something that helps our environment.

Disadvantages of leftover food ended up in landfills:

 ● During the process of decomposing methane will be produced. Methane is a global
warming potential gas. It will cause the depletion of the ozone layer.

● Running up of space: the landfill will be full, and things we throw there actually can be
handle in a better way.

● Wasting resources: Vegetables that farmers grow ended up in landfills, water that used to
produce food and fuel that use to transport food ends up not that is not eaten.

How sustainability happened in this process :

Environment: Biggest advantage among the three-pillar of sustainability. Reduce the production
of methane, slow down the depletion of the ozone layer. Using natural resources and make food
waste into something value without destroying the environment.

Social: Create a job opportunity in a safe working environment.

Economy: Fertilizer can be sold to the farmer that grow plants. to Black soldier flies can be sold
to the farm to fed chicken or to the fish farm to fed fishes.

References
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariellasimke/2019/12/01/black-soldier-flies-are-the-new-superstars
-of-sustainable-aquaculture/#19357b973ac1

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/18/what-environmental-problems-does-wasting-foo
d-cause/#8b133e62f7a6

https://www.moveforhunger.org/the-environmental-impact-of-food-waste

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-20561-4_12

https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/hungry-hungry-hermetia/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264096132_Potential_Usage_of_Food_Waste_as_a_N
atural_Fertilizer_after_Digestion_by_Hermetia_illucens_Diptera_Stratiomyidae