Status of Food Wastes Discharged from Hospitals and Schools in Osaka City

Abstract

The amount of discharged food wastes reaches 20 million metric tons/year in Japan. About 50% of food wastes from food factories are recycled, however, the recycling ratio of food wastes from households and nonmanufacturing industries is only 0.3%. In order to assess the possibility of recycling for nonmanufacturing industries we examined the conditions of food wastes discharged from hospitals and schools in Osaka city. Specific discharges of food wastes from hospitals and school-provided lunches were 0.55 kg/bed and 0.06 kg/person respectively. According to the results of analysis, contents of chlorine, fat and fiber varied to some extent, but the carbon-nitrogen ratio was stabilized. These food wastes have the potential to be recycled as compost and livestock feed through application of appropriate pretreatment.