BBIA Managing Director David Newman has contributed to the latest issue of ENVISION Magazine, looking at how Milan has become the first European city with source separation of food waste.
The bi-annual magazine is created by the Singapore National Environment Agency and in each issue addresses a different theme of environment and sustainability. For the issue released this November, the theme is ‘The Future of Food: Digesting the Complexity and Serving Up Solutions’.
David’s article discusses how Milan has developed and introduced a comprehensive recycling programme diverting food waste from landfill and using it instead to generate fertiliser and biogas.
Food waste collection was extended to 100 per cent of the city’s collection by 30 June 2014, with each household given a free, ventilated kitchen caddy with a role of certified compostable bags. Residents also use compostable hopping bags to line their caddies.
Treatment of the organic waste generates 12.8MW per year of electricity from biogas and 30,000 tonnes of certified high quality compost to be used in agriculture. Organic waste collection in Milan has reduced residual waste from 65 per cent to 48 per cent over a short period of time.
The full article and a pdf of the ‘Future of Food’ ENVISION Magazine is available here.