Ceres

Ceres aims to collect food waste from households, process the food waste and decompose it to produce organic fertiliser, which can be used to disincentivize the use of chemical fertiliser.

Ceres will provide households with a different garbage bin for the collection of food waste. After collection, the food waste will be processed, where it is broken up to make small pieces to increase surface area. Any non-organic materials such as plastic will be separated from the food waste at this step. Then, the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) are added to the food waste in large metal canisters to help catalyse the decomposition. The metal canisters will remain open as it is an aerobic process. This will allow the larvae to breathe and prevent the release of methane during decomposition. Apart from decomposing the food waste, BSF larvae can also decompose toxic bacteria, which reduces the accumulation of waste and harm to the environment. Furthermore, by decomposing bacteria, the BSF larvae reduce the smell of decomposing food waste. 

Finally, after 2 weeks, the organic fertiliser will be separated from the BSF larvae, just before the larvae enter the pupal stage. The pupal of the BSF can be frozen and sold as feed for chicken farmers or fish farmers. The organic fertiliser can be sold at minimal price to disincentivize farmers from using chemical fertilisers. 

In Singapore, one can often see 2 types of garbage bins outside peoples homes, when it is time for garbage collection: general waste and recyclable waste. But what about food waste? Food waste is often considered general waste and thrown away. 

In 2019, 744 million kilograms of food waste was incinerated. That is equivalent to 2 rice bowls of food waste per person per day. Food waste is a wide spread problem across the world and its effects are more evident by the day. When food is wasted, so are all the resources that allowed the food to be delivered to our tables. This results in worsening our carbon footprint, and an accelerated rate of climate change. 

Furthermore, the use of chemical fertiliser had becoming more popular over the last few decades. Chemical fertiliser often results in waterway pollution and depletion of nutrients from the soil. The lack of nutrients in the soil forces farmers to use even more chemical fertiliser, resulting in poor sustainability of the agricultural output. 

The scale of food waste and chemical fertiliser abuse is wide spread, and a problem that will be difficult to control. Therefore it is imperative to take action quickly. The Singaporean community is mainly oblivious to the growing issue of food waste. The consequences of having ignored the issue of food wastage and abuse of chemical fertiliser will by the entirety of the human population and the organism that inhabit earth. 

Initially, Ceres will serve Singaporean residents as we will be decreasing their food wastage and carbon footprint. However, the impact of Ceres will be felt globally. Ceres will directly impact farmers as through the use of organic fertiliser as the ability of agricultural soil to hold nutrients and water will improve. Furthermore, the organic fertiliser can be sold at a lower rate than chemical fertiliser. 

N/a

The BSF larvae are often used by small NGOs to recycle food waste. However, these small NGO or volunteering firms require labour and funding. Therefore I tried to think of a solution that may circumvent said issues. After the input of the start-up cost for Ceres, the organisation can be self-sufficient and can make profits which will be put back into the organisation to increase output.  

The core technology is the use of the BSF larvae to decompose food waste.

None.

Since Ceres is a mere concept at the moment, next years goals will be relatively humble, as possibly launching a pilot study or a survey to learn about the urban populations knowledge on food wastage.

n/a

Financial, technical, legal and market barriers.

n/a

None.