On landfills, butternut and buffets — Zero Waste Summit

‘Food is as complicated as life,” said Kurt Ackermann, CEO of the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust, as he opened the Zero Waste Summit at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on 10 July, an event created by the Food Indaba. 

Petro Myburgh, sustainability manager at the V&A Waterfront, Melania Ludwig, owner of Zero to Landfill Organics, along with Roberto de Carvalho, executive chef at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), and Alison Evans, head of Waste Markets at the City of Cape Town, were panellists at the summit, hosted by Maverick Citizen managing editor Zukiswa Pikoli. 

Prefacing the day’s discussion, Pikoli spoke about the food justice landscape that included the eradication of food waste as a focus area, particularly in light of South Africa’s hunger problem. 

“Food justice emanates from the public health crisis – issues of hunger and noncommunicable diseases in South Africa,” said Pikoli.  

She cited the Union Against Hunger’s reflections on food waste, where France’s “Garot Law” requires large supermarkets to donate rather than discard, and that South Africa could look at making similar agreements with food rescuers so the cost of transporting food would not be a barrier, and tax incentives would be provided. 

Landfills

A total of 67% of all waste is diverted from landfills, with 200 tonnes of organic waste diverted at the V&A, Myburgh explained.  

“Most waste always used to be landfilled, in a 100 to 200 years they will look at landfills and ask: why were they throwing resources into a hole?” said Evans. 

Organic waste creates methane, which is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, she explained. Organic waste is filling up landfills and we are running out of space – it takes 20 years to develop a new landfill. 

Evans mentioned a provincial target stipulating that 50% of organic waste should be diverted from landfills by 2022, and 100% by 2027 – a “scary target”. 

“In the city this has translated to a restriction at one of the two landfill sites. We have to take this seriously; what is the City’s role in this move from putting waste in the landfills to getting it into the economy? Either feeding people, creating animal feed or composting – all the things you can do with organic waste are positive and good for the ecosystem – and can also turn it into energy through anaerobic digestion.” 

Evans said diverting organic waste by 100% by 2027 is an unrealistic target, bearing in mind that “we need to move towards that target, and the City is no exception”.

Since 2016 Evans’s department has distributed 50,000 home composting containers to residents, which “brings down the barrier of entry; no one is going to start a compost heap from scrap”.

They have also trialled separation at the source of organic waste. Informal traders have very few ways to preserve fruit and vegetables, so from small trials they have seen that traders are very willing to separate waste and let it be picked up by the City.  

In trials, Evans explained, people in low-income households have come on board with separating waste because they don’t want rubbish attracting rats and pests.  

The City of Cape Town’s other role is regulator; it does not collect all waste, since the private sector does manage some of it. Policy and by-laws require large commercial waste generators to submit integrated waste management plans and be accredited, and companies doing composting have to do the same. 

Butternut – just use a peeler 

Ludwig’s company helps the hospitality industry separate food waste, which she said only takes a few days to get going. 

“A small restaurant produces a tonne of food waste a month, a large hotel up to 20 tonnes. An ice cream factory produces a tonne a month. It can be up to 50% of your waste.” 

The UK-developed Guardians of Grub is a tool that helps hospitality companies save money through tracking waste. Ludwig’s company will provide feedback on what is discarded, to improve their edible food redistribution and “save the planet at the same time”. 

Love Food Hate Waste is a tool for individuals to minimise food waste, which Ludwig recommended.  

Common reusable items include the end slices of bread loaves and potato peels. Peeling a butternut with a knife rather than a peeler wastes 20% of edible butternut, she explained. 

“There’s always food that is not edible – eggshells, teabags, bones, banana peels – but let’s keep edible food in the chain.” 

Staff meals and smaller plates 

Pikoli asked De Carvalho what the strategies are for waste when hosting large events at the CTICC. 

“The best way is not to create waste in the first place… If you plan accordingly there’s a lot of food you can save,” he said. 

The CTICC gives all the staff a meal (9,000 meals per month) and 70% of food is then recovered from functions. 

If there is an event requiring 10 buffets, they have to keep all 10 looking stocked. So, they decided to keep more in fridges and only put it out when necessary. De Carvalho has also found that if they make the serving plates smaller, people eat less. Another strategy to reduce waste is to create set menus for people of exact portions. 

This financial year they have separated 10 tonnes of organic waste at source. They also found that through feeding staff they diverted 3.5 tonnes of food from a landfill. 

“Charity starts at home. Also, the staff come from vulnerable communities and now they have something in their stomachs when serving these people,” De Carvalho said.

The CTICC gives away used cooking oil for biodiesel. The fat trap (where oils, grease and fat are prevented from going into the wastewater system) collects fat for compost. They are in the planning stages of creating a garden for the kitchen. 

AI on the recycling belt 

Myburgh said her first goal at the V&A was diverting 30% of waste. It was a challenge, and separation at source was the most important intervention. 

They have intensified organic waste and recycling through issuing a cheap ice cream bucket for the restaurants to dispose of food waste, along with continual training and education, as well as kitchen audits. 

They operate an on-site waste recovery centre, and Myburgh says that seeing 130 people working on it is “poetry in motion”. There’s a clean and a dirty belt of waste, ensuring 120 to 160 tonnes is available for recycling and 200 tonnes of organic waste avoid landfills. 

AI is now being used on the belt to recognise contaminated waste, to salvage more. 

The last statistics Myburgh found that 88% of landfilled waste is still organic and 26% labelled as organic is not. That is why it is crucial to get separation at source right.

Cheaper to chuck away? 

It costs R900 to dump a tonne of waste into a landfill in Cape Town, and R200 elsewhere in South Africa, Ludwig said. She’s found the reluctance to start composting is down to economics and effort – it requires a bit of effort to have a number of bins to sort your waste. 

She explained that 4,000 tonnes dumped daily in landfills in Cape Town is organic. Her facility works with 250 tonnes a month. She wants to get to a point where 4,000 tonnes are made into compost, and we stop using fossil fuels as fertilisers. 

“It’s been so easy to throw it in the bin. We’re not asking you to recycle, just separate. Don’t put straws, sugar packets, etc in organic waste – these small items are what’s contaminating the waste. The glass stopper on bottles goes into compost, then we can’t use it,” said Ludwig. “And wrappers on sweets – nobody died from eating a mint that wasn’t wrapped in plastic.” DM