1. 《LIFE+》Magazine
  2. 《LIFE+》Magazine Issue List
  3. Spring 2024 Issue
  4. Useless could be useful
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    19 April 2024
    Effective from 1 August, the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme will be implemented to encourage residents to reduce waste, so as to alleviate the pressure on soon-to-be-saturated landfills, and avoid turning Hong Kong into a “garbage city”. Food waste accounts for a large part of household waste. As long as it’s handled properly, we can substantially reduce waste and expenses, while also maintaining a more liveable environment for the next generation.

    According to government data, about 3,600 tonnes of food waste – equivalent to 20 million apples – is generated every day, of which about two- thirds comes from households and the remaining one-third from the commercial sector. Nina Hospitality Group, which operates a series of restaurants, has already set up a four-step food waste management process. “We start by reducing waste at source, including menu design and surplus food donations, then go on to using our on-site food waste machines, as well as delivering to O · PARK1 for processing,” said Jaime Aromin, Group Director of Operations.

    Photo: Jaime Aromin (left), Elain Yeung (right)

    Those food items that might seem to be useless can be turned into something useful under proper processing, Jaime explains. “Our chefs can make the most of the ingredients to cook main courses as well as side dishes or natural seasoning and sauces. Taking fish as an example, the fillet is used for main course while other parts can also be used for cooking fish stock, mousse and curries.”

    The buffet is the most popular offering in hotel restaurants. While each diner usually consumes three plates of food on average, chefs have to prepare double that amount to meet customer expectations. That results in a lot of leftovers and surplus food. To prevent such wastage, Nina Hospitality Group donated more than 3,400 kilograms of surplus food last year to people in need through the FoodLink Foundation, equivalent to more than 8,100 meals.

    The Group’s hotels have also set up on-site food waste machines. According to Elain Yeung, Group Assistant ESG Manager, about 34 tonnes of food waste were processed by these machines last year, reducing its weight by more than 95% after decomposition. This process helps reduce carbon emissions. “We joined the Environmental Protection Department’s Food Waste Collection Pilot Scheme in 2022,” Elain notes. “Food waste is collected from our hotels every day and delivered to O · PARK1 for further processing.”

    Photo courtesy: Environmental Protection Department HKSAR Government

    From Food Waste to Electricity at O · PARK1

    Located in Siu Ho Wan on North Lantau, O · PARK1 is Hong Kong’s first organic resources recovery centre, adopting anaerobic digestion technology to convert
 food waste into biogas for generating electricity. Besides powering its own operations, this process produces about 14 million kWh of additional electricity per year, equivalent to the annual consumption of about 3,000 households. This helps reduce the use of fossil fuels for power generation, and less organic waste gets dumped in landfills, thereby cutting greenhouse gas emissions by about 42,000 tonnes per year.

    O · PARK1 offers educational facilities and guided tours for the public by appointment. CCG Hearts members will soon have the opportunity to participate. Details will be announced on the CCG Hearts APP and its social media platforms (FB and IG). Stay tuned!

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