MALAYSIAN STATE CONVERTS RAMADAN FOOD WASTE INTO FERTILIZER

KUANTAN, MALAYSIA—After breaking their Ramadan fast outside a mosque in Malaysia, people throw their leftovers into a machine that converts the food scraps into organic fertilizer for crops.

The modest government initiative in the central state of Pahang aims to reduce wastage, especially during the Muslim holy month when huge amounts of food are thrown away daily.

The mobile machine has been deployed at a park in the heart of state capital Kuantan during Ramadan where many families gather every evening to feast on cheap local dishes after a day of fasting.

It processes 25 kilograms of scraps a day, said Sharudin Hamid, the state director of Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation, which started the pilot project last year.

The amount is a tiny fraction of the more than 13,000 tons of food sent to landfills around the Muslim-majority country every day, even more during Ramadan, but Sharudin said it was helping to increase awareness about food wastage.

“The main objective is to ensure that the waste is not sent to landfills,” Sharudin told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“This has had a significant impact on us, as people are becoming more aware of environmental conservation, especially in terms of food waste reduction.”

Food scraps are thrown into the machine where they are slowly mixed with rice husks and sawdust for 48 hours.

The brownish-colored waste

I have done away with expensive chemical inputs since June last year. This is natural, organic, and boosts productivity

Zulyna Mohamed Nordin Farmer

is then packaged and given to farmers to use as fertilizer on their crops.

“Things that grow from that fertilizer can also become food, which again can be composted into fertilizer. So there’s a natural cycle,” said Abdul Shukor Mohamad Salleh, 27, as he bought local delicacies at a Ramadan food market in Kuantan, one of many across the country.

On her small plot near the city, Zulyna Mohamed Nordin, 53, sprays organic liquid fertilizer derived from the recycled food waste on her vegetable, banana and pineapple crops.

She receives 30 kg of the fertilizer every month and slightly more during Ramadan.

“I have done away from using expensive chemical inputs since June last year. This is natural, organic and boosts productivity,” Zulyna told AFP.

“My leafy vegetables are bigger and greener.”

—PHOTOS BY AFP FULL CIRCLE Food waste that is otherwise thrown away during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan is converted into organic fertilizer which can be used to produce more food in Kuantan, Pahang state.

ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY A composting machine can process 25 kilograms of food scraps in a day, reducing the volume of waste that end up in landfills.