In this blog I will look at the my own wastage in a typical day based off of my food consumption. From here I will extend the journey of one of the organic waste products to look at it’s full life cycle and where there is potential for it to benefit the environment past the point of consumption.
From looking through my food audit all waste was able to be redirected from the general waste bin and be reused in a productive manner. Within this day I did not create any unavoidable waste such as non-recyclable soft plastics. In this particular case if my family did not have a compost system all organic waste would have ended in the general waste and eventually in landfills. This unfortunately is the case within most households with in 2010-2011 47% of organic waste ended up in landfill this was the majority with only 9% being reused for energy recovery and 44% being recycled (Australian Government, Department of the environment, 2011). If Australia was to ban organic waste to landfills as being successfully done by other countries such as states in the US this would have a on flow of positive reproductions including reducing methane gas emissions which are affecting climate change, reduce landfill demand, create both economic wealth and bring about knew economy opportunities, which is among a number of other benefits (Asian Development Bank, 2011).
Benefits to the environment:
My banana journey is an example of how organic food waste can be beneficial to the environment. As it was used in compost to break down into a nutrient rich soil to be then used on a vegetable garden bringing nutrients to knew growing vegetables. This system also creates a cycle as our food scraps from our own vegetable garden then go back into the garden to start the process again.
Woolworths. (2010, 1). Woolworths National Transport. Retrieved 6 9, 2016, from wowlink: https://www.wowlink.com.au/cmgt/wcm/connect/f14fa380433d474fbbbabba521a80a40/National+Transport+Newsletter-+4th+Edition+Jan+10.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
Woolworths limited. (2008, April). The facts about grocery retailing at Woolworths. Retrieved 6 10, 2016, from Woolworths: http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/14/144/144044/items/287977/FactsAboutGroceRetailingatWoolworths.pdf
Australian Government, Department of the environment. (2011). Environmental Protection. Retrieved 6 9, 2016, from National organic waste profile: http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/environment-protection/nwp/reporting/organic-waste
abgc. (2016). Banana Industry. Retrieved 6 9, 2016, from Australian Banana Growers Council: http://abgc.org.au/banana-industry-2/our-industry/key-facts/
Asian Development Bank. (2011). Toward Sustainable Municipal Organic Waste Management in South Asia (1). Asian Bank Development.
Drucker, G. (n.d.). Austrailian Bananas Media Kit. Retrieved 6 9, 2016, from Backyard bananas: http://www.backyardbananas.com.au/images/media_kit.pdf