Desertification and drought are slow encroaching natural hazards, impacting society, the economy
and environment, and demands our immediate attention in order to continue sustaining food
production to meet basic human needs.
To tackle the food waste issue, we need to ask what causes it in the first place. Is it high food quality standards, poor packaging, produce degradation, or a lack of circularity with food and organic waste? In fact, it can be argued that our food waste extend is a combination of all of these factors.
The foundation for sustainable waste management is ‘separation at source’. Separating different waste types so that they can be individually managed better, whether it be recycled, repurposed or processed into a ‘secondary resource’.
Good compost increases the organic content of a soil body, facilitating beneficial soil microbial growth and, as a result, plant growth. In addition, it increases the water retention of soil and maintains the carbon content, which improves soil fertility.
The minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), Barbara Creecy, recently provided important updates on different waste streams and their…
April 7th is recognised globally as World Health Day drawing our attention to human health and wellbeing. The theme for World Health Day in 2022 is ‘Our Planet, Our Health’ drawing on the link between human health and environmental health. BiobiN South Africa is using this opportunity to highlight soil health and conservation as a key environmental concern that impacts human health.
A rapid loss in biodiversity has continued to be a key issue for many countries, including South Africa. Treated as…
Waste management is a heavily regulated sector due to the potential for adverse environmental risks when certain waste streams are not managed correctly. It is no different with organic waste. With the new ‘Norms and Standards for Composting’, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment aims to encourage more sector to adopt composting technology to capture and process organic waste.
For the retail and agricultural sectors, sustainable waste management has become a priority across the full supply chain. While businesses are looking at ways to divert waste streams from landfill and improve materials recycling, an important consideration for the food supply chain is biosecure waste management.
Knowing that organic waste has the greatest environmental impacts on landfill, this waste stream is fast becoming more regulated. We have seen this with the proposed 50% landfill ban by 2022 and a complete ban by 2027. Adding to this regulation, businesses that produce large volumes of organic waste are required to manage it on-site to prevent unwanted environmental impacts and keep it separate from other waste streams, like solid recyclables.