Greenbelt develops new solution to address global food waste problem

US-based sustainable production system provider Greenbelt has developed a new solution to address the global food waste problem.

According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA), between 30% and 40% of food goes waste, costing the country $220bn in economic losses. Consumers and businesses discard an additional 53Mt of food.

Saudi Arabia is reported to be one the largest food-wasting nations in the world, which is closely followed by Indonesia, where more food is wasted each year than is produced in the country.

To address the growing concerns of food wastage, Greenbelt has developed ECOsystem, a waste-to-energy technology that converts industry waste into revenue-generating bioproducts.

The company claimed that ECOsystem has the potential to address several areas of food waste, including on the farm and in the food industry.

Greenbelt Resources CEO Darren Eng said: "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.

“The technology can also produce bioethanol, potable water, organic fertiliser that can be used in the fields, and in some cases bioenergy. One of the beauties of our technology is that it can be customised to fit any type of food waste situation.”

Food waste is globally classified into three categories, namely food losses, unavoidable food waste and avoidable food waste.

Food losses refer to the food lost during production, unavoidable food waste is food is lost during the consumption phase, and avoidable food waste refers to the food that could have been eaten.

Eng added: "Greenbelt's ECOsystem technology is focused on creating bioproducts from unavoidable food waste. There are great organisations 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."

Greenbelt is currently working on an initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia.