BATU PAHAT, May 11 -- Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) has recently come up with a food waste composting project in a bid to reduce the capacity of solid waste disposal at landfills during the Ramadan month.
Project head Assoc Prof Ir Dr Noor Yasmin Zainun said the programme was launched on the first day of Ramadan in collaboration with SWM Environment Sdn Bhd and focuses on four bazaar sites that have the most food waste in the district, namely at the Pesta, Bindu, Taman Universiti and Parit Raja bazaars.
She said the implementation of the project was crucial as solid waste disposal during Ramadan was three times higher compared to normal days.
“The Food Waste Management Programme is also conducted with the community at Ramadan bazaars to create awareness among them.
“SWM provides special bins for this programme and the food waste collected is taken to the Solid Waste Research Centre (PPSP) at UTHM to be managed by the university’s spin-off company, SWIDWEB Solutions,” she told reporters after a briefing session on the process of producing fertiliser from food waste here, today.
According to Noor Yasmin, who is a lecturer at the Civil Engineering and Built Environment Faculty, UTHM felt the need to conduct such a project following a revelation by SWCorp (Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation) that there were about 10,000 tonnes of good food and plastics being thrown away every day across Peninsular Malaysia during Ramadan.
“Actually, the trial of the project has started last February involving several residential areas around UTHM, but this time, the focus is on Ramadan bazaars.
“At the PPSP Unit, the collected food waste will be processed to produce the Black Soldier Fly Larvae which serves as fish food and can also be used as organic fertiliser,” said Noor Yasmin.
Johor SWM Environment Sdn Bhd Corporate Communications and Government Affairs senior executive Shahrul Amir Abdul Rahman also present during the briefing.
-- BERNAMA
BERNAMA provides up-to-date authentic and comprehensive news and information which are disseminated via BERNAMA Wires; www.bernama.com; BERNAMA TV on Astro 502, unifi TV 631 and MYTV 121 channels and BERNAMA Radio on FM93.9 (Klang Valley), FM107.5 (Johor Bahru), FM107.9 (Kota Kinabalu) and FM100.9 (Kuching) frequencies.
Follow us on social media :
Facebook : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatv, @bernamaradio
Twitter : @bernama.com, @BernamaTV, @bernamaradio
Instagram : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatvofficial, @bernamaradioofficial
TikTok : @bernamaofficial
