Strategies for Managing Food Wastes: 18-Env-A6 Solid Waste Engineering and Management, May 2014, Q5

Question 5 of 22: Strategies for Managing Food Wastes

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

Notes on this paper

National Examination, May 2014 — 04-Env-A6 / 18-Env-A6, Solid Waste Engineering and Management. 3 hours duration, closed book, no calculator, one letter-sized aid sheet permitted. All 22 questions constitute a complete paper (100 marks total).

Reference texts: Tchobanoglous, Theisen & Vigil, Integrated Solid Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues; Vesilind, Worrell & Reinhart, Solid Waste Engineering; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering (6th ed.); CCME, Guidance Document on Landfill Gas Management; Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.

Question 5: Strategies for Managing Food Wastes (3 marks)

Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.

(1) Source reduction — portion control, inventory/purchasing management, and "best-before" education to reduce the amount of food that becomes waste in the first place, the top tier of the waste-management hierarchy. (2) Food donation/redistribution of edible surplus (grocery, restaurant and institutional surplus) to food banks or community programs before any waste-management step is applied. (3) Biological treatment and recovery — composting, vermicomposting or anaerobic digestion (with biogas recovery) of the residual, non-edible food waste that cannot be reduced or redistributed.