Food waste? Quezon City is looking to turn it into renewable fuel

Shortly after introducing refilling stations at sari-sari stores aimed to help solve the plastic pollution problem, Quezon City is now boosting its efforts to minimize food waste.

The City of Stars has just received 25 biodigesters and food waste-on-wheels from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Japanese Government, which can help QC cut down on its food waste.

In a press statement, QC Mayor Joy Belmonte said, "Food waste constitutes 43% of the total waste generated in the city so we must establish a robust and effective food waste recovery program."

"These biodigesters and food waste-on-wheels from UNDP and the Japanese Government will help the city attain a low-carbon future,” she added.

According to a press statement, QC will position these 25 biodigesters in urban farms and barangays across the city, including Bagong Pag-asa, Batasan Hills, Payatas, E. Rodriguez, Loyola Heights, and Kamuning to name a few.

A biodigester will also be located at the Joy of Urban Farming Demo-farm to process food waste and showcase the technology.

Meanwhile, the food waste-on-wheels, or Community to Farm Mobile Organic Waste Recovery System. will go around beneficiary barangays, specifically in areas with high concentrations of food establishments to collect food waste that will be fed to the biodigesters.

Biodigesters break down kitchen and food waste such as vegetable peelings and spoiled or tainted food and turn them into biogas, a renewable fuel that can be used for cooking. It's liquid by-product can be used as soil conditioner for gardening.

Apart from helping reduce total waste in QC and boosting its circular economy, turning food waste into biogas can also help bring down greenhouse gas emissions, which is the most important thing to do in fighting climate change.

See, when food waste is left to decompose in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas that in a 20-year-period becomes "80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide," the UNDP said.

The European Commission adds methane is "the second most important greenhouse gas contributor to climate change following carbon dioxide."

In a March 2023 report, Carbon Brief  said "the global food system, from production through to consumption emits around 1/3 of total annual greenhouse gas emissions."

And food waste "causes approximately half of this," it continued.

It really is imperative to bring down food waste and levels of methane in the atmosphere because Planet Earth has already warmed 1.1C above pre-industrial levels — mere inches away from the 1.5C limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

What makes this initiative something of a double good deed stems from the production of biogas from the saved food waste. According a 2018 World Resource Institute paper, biogas made from food waste can significantly reduce emissions.

QC initially has 6 biodigesters installed in public markets and community farms. Coupled with the 25 from the Japanese government and the UNDP, QC Mayor Joy Belmonte said, "This will surely help us meet our 50 percent waste diversion target as we gear towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon future."

This is just one of a number of measures the Quezon City government has taken to become more sustainable. This month, it initially introduced refilling stations or basic commodities in 30 sari-sari stores to reduce not just plastic waste but also plastic production.

Microplastics are confirmed to be found in Metro Manila air. — GMA Integrated News