As a person who’s been raised in urban areas, I am always baffled by the amount of food waste we produce. 

Just picture the mounds of garbage lying next to residential neighborhoods around us and we get a picture of the kind of problem we face. 

Food waste (and food scraps) are posing a great solid waste problem in many cities and towns.  

Most waste collection companies only end up dumping the waste in unregulated landfills which have become another health hazard by themselves. 

Take for instance the Dandora dumpsite in the outskirts of the city of Nairobi. 

This gigantic mound of garbage is broken up into enclaves commandeered by gangs ready to protect their turf. 

Apparently, garbage is lucrative business which they can’t just let lose easily. 

Besides this food waste generating tonnes of the greenhouse gas methane, it has converted into nuisance that pollutes our water, air and soil every so often. 

With every downpour, a concoction from this waste called a leachate either percolates deep into the water table or is washed off into nearby water bodies.  

When some decide to set this garbage ablaze, it releases noxious gases whose after effects are more of a mystery. 

This garbage renders surrounding soils risky for agriculture (even though people still grow crops there…) 

After stating some problems, what solutions can we find as our way forward? 

VALUE ADDITION 

This is a term that has been thrown around by the political class to lure masses into their fold.  

But it is more than a commitment to generate employment. 

It is one of the ways to manage the food waste problem we face day in day out. 

Picture perishable avocados going bad at the market… 

Or tomatoes being thrown away for being too ripe… 

Or oranges that look bad for the customer but still filled with juices… 

Value addition involves converting a product that has a lower value into a form that gives it greater value without compromising livelihoods 

The tomatoes could be converted into tomato paste or ketchup which could be healthier than the brands we buy from the supermarket. 

And mind you, no sophisticated technology needed here. 

This same strategy could be used for other perishables which can be converted and stored for future use. 

Value addition is one sure ways of fighting hunger while at the same time returning the dignity back to the farmers. 

But value addition could also mean taking inedible but nutritious crop parts and converting them into a form that is edible. 

I remember reading through a research paper that unearthed some unsettling truths about pineapples…their peels have a higher concentration of antioxidants. 

Antioxidants are substances that aid in battling lifestyle diseases in our bodies while keeping us strong and agile. 

Value addition could play a role in extracting these valuables from peels and other wastes and avail them to us as a product that delivers value both ways. 

But besides value addition, another strategy also matters. 

COMPOSTING 

This age-old practice has always played a key role in not only making our soils better but sustainably so. 

I know that proponents of conventional farming would be up in arms informing us of the importance of mineral fertilizers… 

In no way am I objecting to that. 

All I am saying is soil carbon is not being emphasized as much as it should today yet most of the food, we eat is composed of carbon. 

And Composting is one sure way of adding carbon into the soil.  

The food wastes we generate from our kitchen could be allowed to breakdown in the presence of air and water to generate compost. 

The only asset needed to arrive at this brown gold is TIME.

However, there are several composting methods that could be used such as hot composting, cold composting, Bokashi composting, vermicomposting among others.  

Compost can still be used with mineral fertilizers.  

But besides generating compost, domestic waste could also be useful on the energy front. 

BIOGAS 

Picture the rubbish mound we had mentioned earlier in this article. 

As the rotting stuff breaks down deep inside the mound, the lack of air leads to the production of gases such as methane. 

But methane is not just a greenhouse gas…it’s a fuel we can use to drive our lives. 

It is a form of energy. 

Biodigesters have their place in today’s homes due to the ease with which they avail fuel for families.  

And they need not be complicated. 

A drum will do. 

When organic or rotting matter is added there and mixed up with some water (to allow bacterial activity) the carbon in the food wastes is slowly broken down to methane which can be used to cook or light the home.  

Companies such as HomeBiogas are at the forefront of introducing this technology to households and the uptake seems encouraging (telling from the employment opportunities they have been publicizing). 

IN CONCLUSION 

A circular economy need not be a complex mesh up of sophisticated systems put together by a group of technocrats. 

It could be as simple as the things we do every day…blending those rotting tomatoes to make a paste, using food scraps to make compost and grow vegetables or converting the food waste into renewable energy in the name of biogas.