Abstract
The promising economy of Saudi Arabia and the rise of the region’s population have been major contributors to food wastage that continues to create major environmental concerns. Households, hotels, food markets, bakeries and groceries are the major contributors to food wastage which has necessitated appropriate interventions such as food recycling, use in energy production as well as educating the community to curb food wastage.
Food Recycling and Compositing
With the population at 29.4 million as in 2012 and prospects for population growth still high, there is a need for the establishment of food waste recycling sites across Saudi Arabia. Major concerns are in the cities of Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah that contribute over 6 million tons of food waste per annum. Approximately 37 % of the total waste in Saudi Arabia is food waste This then creates the need for approximately 250 food recycling and compositing facilities so that a target of recycling 24000kg of waste per day on average can be achieved per annum. The 250 facilities will with no doubt cost huge amounts of financial resources since a ton of food waste can be recycled at 9629 SR, therefore, putting the total cost of recycling at 57774000 SR annually. When the cost per ton is multiplied by the total amount of food waste produced annually across Saudi Arabia. Putting up the 250 plants is not an easy task, thereby, implying that the process will take a considerably long period. However, working on a recycling rate of 10% -15 % per annum, the recycling ambitions could be achieved within a period of 7 years.
Food Burnt for Energy, “Electricity and Heat”
Saudi Arabia has minimal waste recovery facilities which then creates the need for funding the undertakings concerned with the combustion of food waste for energy. Building an energy production plant from food waste requires a significant amount of financial resources such that a plant could cost up to US $ 100 million to be completed. This is because of the resources that go into setting up the infrastructure and ensuring that everything goes as expected. A plant costing about US $ 100 million has the capacity of producing approximately 38 million liters of ethanol per annum. Much of the expenditure goes into direct costs involving labor, machinery and capital as well as costs for coping with various risks that are characteristic of such plants. To be fully constructed and operating, a plant that produces 38 million liters of ethanol per annum could take up to 4 years. However, the time taken to fully complete the project depends on the technology used. Complexity in the technology used implies that more time would be taken to complete the establishment of the plant.
However, in situations where there are simple technologies and availability of capital resources, the time taken for completion could be reduced to 3 years. Food burnt for energy generates electricity and heat to be used for various households and industrial activities. A major concern should be on the need to light up the interior parts of the nations where erecting of grids possess a challenge. This implies that the electricity generated from the burning of food wastes could be targeted towards ensuring regional balance in terms of electrification so as to significantly reduce the costs of electricity for those in the rural areas. This calls for policies that are focused on promoting regional balance in terms of provision of social amenities by the government.
Reducing Food Wastage through Regulation and Education of the Public
Everyone across Saudi Arabia has to play a role in reducing food wastage. Billions of money is spent on food that is not consumed and which ends up in the landfills. For instance, a typical residential block consisting of 50 floors with 8 households per floor has the potential of producing about 350 kg of food waste per day. This implies that the community has to be made aware of the need to reduce consumption and disposal behavior with regulations in place to monitor violations from the residents. Through education programs, everyone has to be educated on the ways in which prevention, re-use, recycling and disposal of food wastes could be done. The education programs need to be implemented right from the pre-schools to the higher institutions so that the whole nation adopts a culture capable of adhering to the need for appropriate consumption and disposals. With households and food retails stores letting food wastes find their ways into the landfills, there is a need for education on ways in which they could donate the food to the disadvantaged instead of disposing it off. Employers need to train their staff on the need to reduce food wastage so as to create an environmentally friendly society. The channels to create awareness include televisions, outdoor billboards as well as radio advertisements that significantly contribute to knowledge on the need to reduce food wastage. Social media such as Facebook and blogs are also important channels for conveying the information since millions of people across Saudi Arabia spend a significant amount of time on social media daily. Taxes need to be levied on food industries depending on the size of the processing plant. For large food processing firms, they need to pay at least 10000 SR per annum as taxes towards food waste management. The taxes then provide financial resources necessary to supplement the government budget on the treatment of food wastages.
References
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Magram, S. (2015). A Mini Review On Differences In Solid Waste Generation and Management Scenarios in Two High Income Countries- US and Saudi Arabia. Asian Transactions on Engineering, 9-15.
