Food waste turned into compost to benefit community gardens in PJ

Lee (front) and Ooi (left, in red T-shirt) at the PJS1 community garden.

Four community gardens in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, benefitted from 160kg of compost made from food waste.

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung’s office and composting specialist Mentari Alam Eko (M) Sdn Bhd donated the compost in conjunction with World Environment Day.

This was a follow-up to Lee’s donation of 57kg of food waste to the firm for conversion into compost.

“The food waste from my Chinese New Year open house was converted into 12kg of compost,” said Lee.

“The 160kg of compost given to the four community gardens is equivalent to about 800kg of food waste collected from other events and locations.

“If the waste had not been composted, it would have been sent to landfills.

The Kampung Lindungan community garden also benefitted from the donated compost.

“Instead, the compost can now be used as fertiliser to produce organic food sources,” added Lee.

The beneficiaries were community gardens in PJS1, Perpustakaan Awam Selangor @PJ Kita Community Library in Kampung Lindungan, Desa Mentari Block 3 and PJS 10.

Lee visited the PJS1 community garden and Kampung Lindungan community library to donate the compost to them.

He revealed that an average of about 38,000 metric tonnes of solid waste, of which 45% is food, is sent to more than 100 landfills daily.

Based on this trend, Malaysia’s landfills may face a saturation crisis by 2050.

The authorities and operators are actively seeking solutions for sustainable treatment systems, said Lee.

“Food waste sent to landfills produce a large amount of methane gas, which results in global warming.

“Food waste comes from homes, restaurants, supermarkets, food suppliers, food producers, schools and hotels.

“Ideally, we need to reduce the amount of food waste being sent to landfills,” he reiterated.

Lee noted that food waste could be recycled using several methods such composting and processors.

“I am advocating that food waste be separated at source.

“We need to create a positive circular food-to-soil-to-food ecosystem,” he added.

Mentari Alam Eko biotech research and solution planning head Mae Ooi said the company mostly received food wastes from open houses, events, hotels and markets.

“Using our technology, we are able to compost this waste within a day,” she said.