Investigation of the available technologies and their feasibility for the conversion of food waste into fish feed in Hong Kong

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2016-04, Vol.23 (8), p.7169-7177
• Main Authors: Cheng, Jack Y. K., Lo, Irene M. C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Feed - analysis; Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioconversion; Biological Waste as Resource; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Feasibility Studies; Feed quality; Feeds; Fish feeds; Fisheries; Fishes - growth & development; Food availability; Food conversion; Food quality; Food Safety; Food Technology - methods; Food waste; Hogs; Hong Kong; Humans; Investigations; Landfills; Municipal solid waste; Poultry; Public health; Recycling; Recycling - methods; Recycling centers; Refuse Disposal - methods; Solid Waste - analysis; Waste disposal sites; Waste recycling; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; with a Focus on Food Waste
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-4668-3

Food waste is the largest constituent of municipal solid waste in Hong Kong, but food waste recycling is still in its infancy. With the imminent saturation of all landfill sites by 2020, multiple technologies are needed to boost up the food waste recycling rate in Hong Kong. Conversion of food waste into animal feeds is prevalent in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, treating over 40 % of their recycled food waste. This direction is worth exploring in Hong Kong once concerns over food safety are resolved. Fortunately, while feeding food waste to pigs and chickens poses threats to public health, feeding it to fish is considered low risk. In order to examine the feasibility of converting food waste into fish feed in Hong Kong, this paper investigates the market demand, technical viability, feed quality, regulatory hurdles, and potential contribution. The results show that a significant amount of food waste can be recycled by converting it into fish feed due to the enormous demand from feed factories in mainland China. Two conversion technologies, heat drying and black soldier fly bioconversion, are studied extensively. Black soldier fly bioconversion is preferable because the end-product, insect powder, is anticipated to gain import approval from mainland China. The authors suggest further research efforts to speed up its application for food waste recycling in urban cities.