OPINION: Time for Taiwan to Get Serious About Reusing Its Food Waste

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/02
By: By Tim Heberlein

Credit: US Department of Agriculture / CC BY 2.0

Taiwan should embrace technology that will convert food waste to energy and fuel the circular economy, writes Tim Heberlein, founder of TS Edgewater Consultants.

Taiwan generates an estimated 16.5 million tons of food waste a year. That’s enough to fill 182 Olympic-size swimming pools every day all year, year-in and year-out. For most people, it’s out-of-sight, out-of-mind – at worst, someone else’s problem.

In reality, food waste costs Taiwan taxpayers billions of dollars a year. It is a significant source of air and water pollution and Taiwan’s already oversized greenhouse gas emissions. Soil contamination from food waste reduces our limited farmland every year.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right technology, converting food waste to energy epitomizes the circular economy. More to the point, it could provide Taiwan much more electricity than it now gets from nuclear power and provide a practical, low-cost / high-return incentive for inbound foreign investment and the retention of local manufacturing.

Taiwan truly is a global leader in solid waste recycling. Only Korea and Sweden do it better. However, when it comes to handling food waste, Taiwan punches well below its weight class.    [FULL  STORY]

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