Prospect of Processing and Recycling Food Wastes

[Synopsis] Facing the end of the mass consumption society and various types of environmental problems, the establishment of a recycling oriented society is now required. Laws regarding waste management and recycling have been enacted in the last several years. Food waste, which is about 5％ of the total waste and about 8％ of the organic waste needs to be recycled as a resource, because nearly 90％ of it is incinerated. However, composting plants for waste disposal constructed in the 1970s and 1980s have not achieved substantial success or have failed. In this study, the cause of these failures is analyzed by examining several processing systems during operation. The analysis revealed that the participation of product users (farmers, etc.)were not fully realized, and the emphasis was placed on just processing and disposing of the waste, rather than the establishment of a recycle oriented system which links and integrates disposers (consumers) and product users through a participatory mechanism