Food wastes

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has called for halving the global per capita food waste from retail to consumer level and the reduction of food losses along production and supply chains by 2030 (United Nations 2015). Globally, state and non-state actors have introduced measures (e.g., regulatory and other incentive mechanisms) to mitigate food waste (FW) at the national, regional or local/supply chain level (Chalak et al. 2016).

Sustainable management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a critical issue around the world, especially in South Asia where waste generation is expected to double by 2050. Closing the food-nutrient cycle through composting biodegradable MSW has the potential to meet human needs, including sanitation and food security, while protecting the environment. We use an interdisciplinary case study approach including systems thinking to assess Sri Lanka's national MSW composting system, which primarily receives residential and commercial food waste. We embed quantitative compost quality analysis and interviews at 20 composting facilities within a broader qualitative assessment informed by ~60 stakeholders in total. This approach yields insights on how institutional, economic, social, and biophysical aspects of the system are interrelated, and how challenges and solutions can create undesirable and desirable cascading effects, respectively. Such dynamics can create risks of composting faci...

Sustainable management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a critical issue around the world, especially in South Asia where waste generation is expected to double by 2050. Closing the food-nutrient cycle through composting biodegradable MSW has the potential to meet human needs, including sanitation and food security, while protecting the environment. We use an interdisciplinary case study approach including systems thinking to assess Sri Lanka's national MSW composting system, which primarily receives residential and commercial food waste. We embed quantitative compost quality analysis and interviews at 20 composting facilities within a broader qualitative assessment informed by ~60 stakeholders in total. This approach yields insights on how institutional, economic, social, and biophysical aspects of the system are interrelated, and how challenges and solutions can create undesirable and desirable cascading effects, respectively. Such dynamics can create risks of composting faci...

Sustainable management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a critical issue around the world, especially in South Asia where waste generation is expected to double by 2050. Closing the food-nutrient cycle through composting biodegradable MSW has the potential to meet human needs, including sanitation and food security, while protecting the environment. We use an interdisciplinary case study approach including systems thinking to assess Sri Lanka's national MSW composting system, which primarily receives residential and commercial food waste. We embed quantitative compost quality analysis and interviews at 20 composting facilities within a broader qualitative assessment informed by ~60 stakeholders in total. This approach yields insights on how institutional, economic, social, and biophysical aspects of the system are interrelated, and how challenges and solutions can create undesirable and desirable cascading effects, respectively. Such dynamics can create risks of composting faci...

Food wastes, such as animal feedstuff, may result in risks of disease spreading. Changes of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella in the food wastes during storage period were investigated in this paper. Staphylococcus aureus were tested by plate count and coagulase test, and Salmonella were tested by plate count and PCR assay. Results showed that both Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella existed in the food wastes. After 48 h storage at 20 and 37 the amount of Staphylococcus aureus decreased from 10 3-10 5 CFU/g to 10 2 and 0 CFU/g respectively. The amount of Salmonella decreased from 5.5×10 6-4.6×10 7 CFU/g to a range between 2.0×10 4 and 2.0×10 5 CFU/g after 48 h storage at 20 , and it was less than 20 CFU/g after 48 h storage at 37. The two pathogenic bacteria would be restricted by pH decrease, which was caused by the fermentation of the food wastes.