Hsinchu and Miaoli's Food Waste Epidemic Prevention Battle 10: A Full Inventory of Food Waste Production and Disposal Capacity Across Taiwan

If African swine fever broke out tomorrow, food waste would immediately become a battlefield. Is every place ready? "Upstream and Downstream" contacted local environmental protection bureaus and offices to obtain frontline information. This article takes stock of Miaoli and Hsinchu County; for other counties and cities, please read the special series.

(Background note: The following food waste recycling figures are official statistics, but many food waste pig farmers say that the official statistics on food waste are not accurate, because during the recycling process there has long been a situation of "reporting less than the actual amount." Private operators drive small trucks with food waste barrels on them and collect food waste everywhere, mostly from households, snack shops, and night markets, and these may not necessarily be included in the statistics. Readers are asked to take this into consideration.)

Miaoli County: About 107 tons of food waste; if food waste is banned, incineration will be used

Tsai Cheng-hsun, spokesperson for the Miaoli County Environmental Protection Bureau, said that the county's household food waste (general waste) figure is 41 tons. In some areas, raw and cooked food waste are not separated. After the cleaning teams from the 18 township offices collect the food waste, they compost it at the composting sites of their respective township offices. The amount of food waste recycled from restaurants (institutional units) is 66 tons, usually collected by pig farmers to cook and feed to pigs. The two together total about 107 tons.

Miaoli County has a total of 127 food waste black pig farms, ranking sixth in Taiwan. If food waste feeding to pigs is banned in the future, how will Miaoli County respond? Tsai Cheng-hsun said that in the short term, it will return to each township office for composting. At present, the 41 tons of household food waste means each office handles about 2.7 tons on average. Adding the 66 tons from institutional units, the Environmental Protection Bureau estimates that each office should have no problem handling up to 10 tons. In the long term, however, it will still have to rely on incinerators for disposal.

Regarding concerns about whether incinerating food waste produces dioxins, Tsai said that dioxins are mainly produced by burning mixed plastics. Incinerators are equipped with 24-hour monitoring equipment, and if emissions are abnormal, they will be notified immediately, so he is not worried. But if an outbreak occurs domestically, how should pig carcasses be handled for rendering? Tsai said that incinerators have regulations prohibiting the incineration of carcasses, and the design at the time of construction did not include carcass rendering, so it will not squeeze the capacity for garbage disposal.

Hsinchu County: 30 tons of household waste per day, but much food waste circulates on its own and cannot be tracked

Lo Shih-chen, deputy director of the Hsinchu County Environmental Protection Bureau, said that at present the cleaning teams collect 30 tons of household waste (general waste) per day, but the real amount is higher than this, because much food waste from households and restaurants circulates through pig farms in amounts that cannot be calculated.

Lo explained that because Hsinchu mainly has a rural village lifestyle, many households take their own food waste to feed chickens and ducks. In many cases, pig farms even place a barrel nearby, and after people in the surrounding area finish eating at seven or eight o'clock, they pour the food waste into the barrel, and the pig farm takes the barrel to feed the pigs. General garbage collection is at four or five o'clock, so it simply cannot be collected. In the city center or in Zhubei communities, the cleaning teams can collect more.

Before July last year (2018), the collected food waste was all sent to a composting site within the jurisdiction, which could process 20 tons a day. In the middle of the year, because of equipment repairs, it is currently not operating, and all food waste is handed over to pig farmers. Restaurant operators also currently hand over food waste to pig farms that have already applied for "reuse review."

The composting site is currently undergoing annual repairs, and there is no incinerator; if food waste comes in, it can only be buried in dug pits

There are as many as 215 food waste pig farms in Hsinchu County, ranking third nationwide. In the past, food waste relied heavily on the pig industry for disposal. If food waste feeding to pigs is fully banned, how will Hsinchu County respond? Lo said that after repairs, the composting site can handle up to 60 tons per day, but this will not be possible until July this year (2019). If food waste feeding to pigs is banned before then, there is no incinerator in the jurisdiction, so it may first be dewatered and then buried in dug pits. Regarding food waste disposal, Lo admitted, "We are actually also very troubled about what can be done."

Lo said that most pig farms in Hsinchu County are small. During equipment inspections in December last year, pig farmers all had cooking equipment, and all had applied to agricultural authorities for livestock registration. "Traditionally, they (pig farmers) will definitely cook it, because if they do not cook it, their pigs will get sick after eating it, and pig farmers also want them to grow up healthy." But most of these small pig farmers raise only twenty-some or fifty-some head. Now, to pass reuse review, there are many documents to submit and online registration, and small pig farmers simply cannot provide them. Lo said that the Environmental Protection Bureau already gained a preliminary understanding of the situation at each pig farm during the first inspection, but at present it is just continuously promoting awareness.

Special series articles:

1. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 01"A close look at food waste pig farming. Pig farmers: This is our life and property, and we are more afraid of getting hit than anyone else!
2. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 02"Civil war among pig farmers: Food waste pig farming is high-risk and outdated VS food waste can be more finely sorted after high-temperature cooking
3. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 03"Expert opinion: If you want to use food waste, you have to do it perfectly, otherwise leave the industry! Separating food waste into meat-containing and non-meat waste reduces risk
4. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 04"The food waste ban was rushed; the Environmental Protection Administration is up in arms: "Swine fever has not even entered yet, and the country is already in chaos"
5. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 05"Opportunities and challenges of composting! Localized decentralized food waste composting, even Daan Forest Park can do it
6. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 06"A comprehensive inventory of food waste production and disposal capacity across Taiwan (Six Special Municipalities volume)
7. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 07"A comprehensive inventory of food waste production and disposal capacity across Taiwan (Yunlin and Pingtung)
8. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 08"Pingtung has something to say: The food waste ban impacts the black pig industry chain, and non-food-waste feed also needs attention
9. The Battle of Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 09"Food waste power generation is powerful; with 250 metric tons of food waste input daily, it is estimated to produce enough electricity for 60,000 households annually