The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 06"A Comprehensive Review of Food Waste Generation and Disposal Capacity Across Taiwan (Six Municipalities)
Text / by Upperstream and Downstream reporters Duan Ya-xin, Liu Yi-xin, Cai Jia-shan
To prevent and control the African swine fever epidemic, the Council of Agriculture announced strict inspections of food waste pig farming. Those who do not meet the high-temperature cooking conditions and those who have not obtained the "re-inspection and utilization" qualification from the Environmental Protection Administration must stop using food waste to raise pigs. Once an outbreak occurs domestically, food waste pig farming will be completely banned.
Taiwan produces approximately 1 million metric tons of cooked food waste each year. Looking at individual counties and cities, how much food waste is there in each area? What are the disposal methods? If food waste pig farming is completely banned, how will the environmental protection units of each county and city respond? What are the detailed supporting measures? Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Ji-zhong said in a recent interview that localities are accelerating their reviews and will submit plans to the Environmental Protection Administration.
If African swine fever breaks out tomorrow, food waste will immediately become a battlefield. Are all localities prepared? "Upperstream and Downstream" contacted local environmental protection bureaus to obtain frontline information. This article reviews the six municipalities. For the review situation of other major pig-farming counties including Pingtung and Yunlin, please click here to read. (Other counties and cities are being reviewed and will be published continuously.)
(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 there has long been a situation of "reporting less than actual" during the recycling process. Private operators drive small trucks with food waste barrels on them, collecting everywhere, mostly from households, snack shops and night markets, which may not be included in the statistics. Readers please take this into consideration.)
1. Taipei City: 111 metric tons of food waste, sent to its own composting plant and private composting plants in other counties and cities
Li Min-hao of the Waste Disposal Management Section of the Taipei City Environmental Protection Bureau said that for cooked food waste, the declared amount from regulated business entities is 62 tons per day, and for unregulated ones, the preliminary estimate is about 38 tons, totaling 100 metric tons. Adding 11 metric tons of household food waste, the total is 111 metric tons.
Li Min-hao said that if Taipei City's cooked food waste is not used for pig farming, it will first be sent for composting, and secondly for incineration. The composting plants it plans to send to include Taipei City's own public composting plant and private composting plants in other counties and cities. Taipei City currently has three incineration plants, each with its own composting plant. In the past they all did raw food waste composting, and in the future cooked food waste can also be added.
Taipei City previously commissioned private composting plants in Pingtung and Yunlin in other counties and cities to handle compost food waste (raw food waste), about 50-60 tons. Previously this food waste was shipped out without being dewatered. If pig-farming food waste (cooked food waste) is to be added in the future, both raw and cooked food waste will need to be dewatered, reducing the volume to one-third, before being shipped out.
But if in the future each county and city's composting plant must prioritize handling its own food waste and can no longer accommodate Taipei City's food waste, what then? Li said this will depend on the situation at that time. The composting plants in other counties and cities that Taipei City cooperates with are private composting plants, not public ones.
The Environmental Protection Administration recently said it will plan guidance measures for large food waste generators, hoping to guide businesses producing more than one ton of food waste per day (for example: Din Tai Fung, COSTCO) to install their own food waste processing equipment. However, Din Tai Fung said it has not yet received relevant information and will look into it further.
2. New Taipei City: About 200-250 metric tons of cooked food waste produced daily, to be handled according to central command in the future
New Taipei City produces 200 tons of compost food waste (raw food waste) daily. Since there is no composting plant within its territory, it is mostly taken over by composting operators from central and southern Taiwan through bidding. At the same time, the pig-farming food waste (cooked food waste) collected daily by cleaning teams is as much as 100 tons. In addition, there are still 100-150 tons of food waste circulating in the market. In the past, almost all of this food waste was absorbed by food waste pig farmers in New Taipei and Taoyuan.
Sun Zhong-wei, spokesperson for the New Taipei City Environmental Protection Bureau, said that New Taipei City is indeed conducting scenario simulations for various possible situations and pre-planning various response measures, but cannot provide detailed explanations at this time. However, if African swine fever invades Taiwan, the whole of Taiwan will enter an epidemic prevention combat phase, and all county and city governments must accept the command and supervision of the central government. At that time, New Taipei City will also comply.
3. Taoyuan: About 150 metric tons of cooked food waste, biomass energy to be launched in 2021, composting and incineration during the transition period
According to statistics from the Taoyuan City Government Environmental Protection Bureau, Taoyuan City's average daily household food waste is 82 metric tons, of which 98.8% is pig-farming food waste and 1.2% is compost food waste. The average daily business food waste is 68 metric tons, of which 90.3% is pig-farming food waste and the remaining 9.7% is used for other recycling, such as fertilizer.
If food waste pig farming is completely banned, how should food waste be disposed of? The Environmental Protection Bureau responded that the Taoyuan City Biomass Energy Center BOT project has been tendered and contracted, and is expected to officially begin operations before July of year 110 (2021), and can convert food waste into power generation energy. Lu Ming-chi, a senior technical specialist of the Environmental Protection Bureau, further explained that the biomass energy center is estimated to be able to process 250 metric tons of food waste per day, regardless of raw or cooked food waste. Compared with Taoyuan City's current daily cooked food waste of 150 metric tons, the biomass energy center can fully handle it in the future.
But before the biomass energy center begins operations, how should short-term food waste disposal be resolved? The Environmental Protection Bureau pointed out that during the transition period, methods such as rapid composting fermentation, landfill, incineration or food waste pulping can be used. Currently there are two incineration processing facilities and two composting and recycling facilities in the Taoyuan area.
However, the Taoyuan City Environmental Protection Bureau emphasized that when choosing disposal methods, in addition to considering costs, multi-faceted factors such as site location and related supporting implementation measures must also be considered. The city government is currently evaluating the feasibility of various options. Lu Ming-chi explained that Taoyuan City currently has two public small composting plants. If cooked food waste composting is adopted, about five metric tons can be processed per day. The remaining private composting plants all handle agricultural waste and do not accept cooked food waste.
If cooked food waste composting can only process five metric tons per day, how will it face 150 metric tons of food waste per day in the future? Lu explained that the plan has short-, medium- and long-term phases. The central government is reviewing the capacity of composting plants nationwide to meet the demand for cooked food waste composting, and Taoyuan City can use composting plants in other counties and cities.
Regarding concerns that cooked food waste is heavy in oil and salt and difficult to use as compost, Lu said that dewatering food waste can separate salt and oil. Although it cannot reach 100 percent, at least 50 to 70 percent can be extracted. Regarding the odor problem of cooked food waste composting, the Environmental Protection Bureau responded that during the maturation process, turning or stirring is required, which inevitably causes some odor to escape. Therefore, in addition to considering the site conditions of the composting plant, composting techniques must also be considered, such as traditional high-efficiency or rapid fermentation methods, to reduce odor generation.
As for restaurant operators, who originally could make money by selling food waste, now having to pay to send it for composting, is there a way for them to comply? The Environmental Protection Bureau stated that restaurants, snack shops, etc. already have the obligation to properly clean up their waste. Once the central government announces a ban on food waste pig farming, food waste generated by the catering industry should be commissioned by themselves to qualified clearing and disposal (recycling) institutions for incineration or composting.
4. Taichung City: If food waste pig farming is banned, there will be 192 metric tons of cooked food waste, mainly incinerated
Chen Xiu-ling, section chief of the Waste Management Section of the Taichung City Environmental Protection Bureau, said that Taichung City's total daily food waste recycling is about 126 tons, with cooked food waste about 96 tons, from household and snack shop collection along streets, and raw food waste about 30 tons. Raw food waste is used for composting, while cooked food waste is given to pig farmers to feed pigs. There are five composting plants in Taichung City. Because cooked food waste processing produces odors that the public dislikes, they all focus on raw food waste disposal. A specialist surnamed Huang of the Environmental Protection Bureau said that at present, the 30 tons of raw food waste processing capacity is already nearly saturated.
After banning food waste pig farming, how should the cooked food waste recycling operation be adjusted? Chen Xiu-ling said that estimating from Taichung City's pig farmers, the recycled amount of cooked food waste will roughly double to 192 tons. The current plan is to seek budget from the central government to purchase additional collection vehicles and food waste barrels. The detailed figures are still being reviewed.
In addition, to solve the food waste problem, Taichung City built Taiwan's first biomass energy plant in Waipu. Huang Jia-wen, a specialist of the Waste Management Section, said that it was originally set up in the hope of solving the nearly saturated state of raw food waste. However, as the current problem of cooked food waste disposal has emerged, it is now being studied whether the plant's equipment can handle cooked food waste processing. If pre-treatment purification equipment such as oil skimming and decontamination is purchased, cooked food waste should be able to be disposed of through the biomass energy plant.
The Waipu Biomass Energy Plant is currently undergoing the first phase of construction, and can process 80 metric tons of food waste per day. After the second phase of construction is completed in the future, the plant's total food waste disposal capacity can reach 160 tons per day. It is planned to begin operation in June of this year.
Special series articles:
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 01"A close look at food waste pig farming, pig farmers: This is our life and property, we are more afraid of getting infected than anyone!
- The Battle Against Epidemic 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 apart from high-temperature cooking
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 03"Expert opinion: If you want to use food waste, you must do it to 100 points, otherwise leave the industry! Separating food waste with and without meat reduces risk
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 04"Food waste ban rushed, Environmental Protection Administration fumes "Swine fever hasn't even arrived, and the country is already in chaos"
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 05"Opportunities and challenges of composting! Local food waste made in a decentralized way, even Daan Forest Park can do it
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 06"A Comprehensive Review of Food Waste Generation and Disposal Capacity Across Taiwan (Six Municipalities)
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 07"A Comprehensive Review of Food Waste Generation and Disposal Capacity Across Taiwan (Yunlin and Pingtung)
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 08"Pingtung has something to say: The food waste ban impacts the black pig industry chain, non-food-waste feed also needs attention
- The Battle Against Epidemic and Food Waste 09"Food waste power generation is powerful, 250 metric tons of food waste input daily, estimated annual power for 60,000 households