The Food Waste Hierarchy
Sending food waste to landfill is not only an expensive process, but it carries negative environmental impacts and accelerates soil degradation. When more sustainable practices are adopted, food waste can be turned into a valuable resource that feeds precious nutrients back into the soil and surrounding plants. Not only do these methods drastically reduce (or in some cases, eliminate) negative environmental impacts, they also prevent the alternative of commercial chemical fertilisers being used on our food - diminishing the taste and nutritional value of the end product.
The food waste hierarchy is an excellent tool that outlines the available options for handling food and food waste. This system arranges the options in highest to lowest preference based on environmental sustainability:
Avoid:
Avoiding and reducing the waste we produce in the first place is the highest priority on the food waste hierarchy. Practices that help to avoid waste include:
- Writing a shopping list to prevent impulse-purchasing
- Meal prepping to avoid producing more food than required
To download our shopping list and meal prep templates, head to:
https://www.enrich360.com.au/news/enrich360-resources-for-avoiding-food-waste
Reuse:
When we end up with more food than we need, finding ways to reuse it is another step that prevents excess waste being sent to landfill. This includes activities such as:
- Consuming leftover food or repurposing it into new meals
- Donate food to organisations such as OzHarvest
- Freeze excess food to use at a later date
Recycle:
For unavoidable food waste, recycling is the best choice - that’s where our range of enrich360® dehydrators come in. This innovative solution directly supports the recycling strategy and adopts the circular economy approach that underpins the model waste hierarchy. Our dehydrators recycle unavoidable food waste, transforming it into a valuable resource, diverting it from landfill and instead nourishing soil and plants.
Reprocess:
Reprocessing is the treatment of waste in order to reduce gas emissions during the decomposition process and in turn, the waste’s impact on the environment. An example of reprocessing includes the use of food digesters which mimic a natural digestive system using air, water and microbiology, to create a liquid that can be safely disposed of.
Recovery:
In situations where further recycling is no longer possible, energy may still be able to be recovered from the material. This energy can then be used to support communities. For example, anaerobic digestion is a process that breaks down bacteria and organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas. The biogas can then be burned to produce electricity and heat.
Disposal:
The disposal of food waste without extracting any value is the least favourable process on the food waste hierarchy. Food waste is usually disposed of by going into landfill, where it emits carbon dioxide and methane which can have negative impacts on the environment.
To learn more about how you can prevent your food waste from going to landfill with an enrich360® dehydrator, contact us today:
Ken Grimmond
📞 0499360360
✉️ ken@enrich360.com.au
