Greenbelt Resources Corporation has successfully developed a solution to address industrial segments of the global food waste problem. In the United States, 30 to 40 percent of food goes to waste costing the country $220 billion in economic losses, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Consumers and businesses throw another 53 million tons of food away. Saudi Arabia is the largest food waster n the world followed closely by Indonesia where more food is wasted each year than is produced in the country. Focused on developing solutions to the growing crisis, Greenbelt developed its proprietary waste-to-energy technology to convert food industry waste into revenue generating bioproducts.
Currently working on an initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia, Greenbelt CEO Darren Eng explains that Greenbelt’s waste-to-energy technology, ECOsystem, was developed to specifically address several areas of food waste including on the farm and in the food industry.
“The ECOsystem process converts the food waste into multiple bioproducts including, in some cases, a high-quality protein feed for human consumption designed to help meet the growing global demand for more protein sources,” explains Eng. “The technology can also produce bioethanol, potable water, organic fertilizer that can be used in the fields, and in some cases bioenergy. One of the beauties of our technology is that it can be customized to fit any type of food waste situation.”
In the global conversation around food waste three categories of waste have evolved:
- Food losses – the food lost during production;
- Unavoidable food waste – the food lost during the consumption phase (such as orange peels or fruit cores); and
- Avoidable food waste – The food that could have been eaten.
Unavoidable food waste is one area in particular on which Greenbelt is focused.
“No matter how much food waste we avoid, we need to recognize that some element of waste will always be endemic, especially the large stream of inedible food. The question is, since we may not be able to avoid those wastes, what do we do with them?” asks Energy Vision Chair Joanna Underwood in Waste Advantage.
According to Eng, their ECOsystem process is one answer to the “what do we do with them” question. “Greenbelt’s ECOsystem technology is focused on creating bioproducts from unavoidable food waste,” explains Eng. “There are great organizations focused on reducing food losses and educating consumers about wasting food, but I believe there is not enough conversation around real solutions to address unavoidable food losses. We have positioned Greenbelt as a leader in this global discussion.”
Eng anticipates that the ECOsystem technology will not only become a significant solution in Indonesia but in countries around the world. The Indonesian initiative, JababECO, has broken ground. When the MOU was signed in April, it was celebrated by the attendance of Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
For more information, visit www.greenbeltresources.com.