Food waste in Australia alone costs the economy around $20 billion each year, with 300kg of food per person being wasted. That’s about 7.3 million tonnes in total. Typically, food waste is sent to landfill, robbing the soil of important nutrients which are then replaced with artificial fertilisers that reduce the taste and nutritional value of the food we consume. To address the challenge in Australia, in 2016 the Government committed to convene a food waste summit and develop a national food waste strategy to halve our food waste by 2030.
Cue Enrich360, the innovative solution directly supporting the government’s strategy by seeking to recycle unavoidable food waste into a resource, diverting it from landfill back to the soil.
What is Enrich360:
Enrich360 is a range of food waste bio-dehydrators that use technology from South Korea (a country that has banned food waste in landfill) to turn waste into fertiliser. The machines utilise a fully automated process of dehydration, sterilisation and volume reduction of up to 93%. For example, a restaurant producing 200 kilograms of food waste each week can reduce it to between 15kg and 20kg. The resulting powder is sterile and pathogen free, rich in nutrients and nitrogen, with the consistency of coffee grounds.
Last year, just before Melbourne went into lockdown, Vanrooy Machinery purchased our very own Enrich360. The bio-dehydrator came highly recommended by a mutual customer. After seeing it work in person and learning of the environmental benefits of the program, it was a no-brainer for us to not only house one at our Warehouse, but to also become a supplier of the machines as well.
Our Enrich360 lives in our Test Kitchen and we use it to convert all of the waste that would otherwise be thrown away (from activities such as customer demonstrations, product-testing and trials) into nutrient-rich soil. We also encourage our staff to bring in their personal food waste and compost bins to contribute as well. We then distribute the soil onto our gardens, where our staff have been producing some amazing fresh produce such as potatoes, radishes, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and more. We are very fond of the Enrich360 and are loving the benefits of not only playing our part to work greener, but also having amazing soil contributing to the growth of new, fresh produce.
You can learn more about the benefits of purchasing an Enrich 360 bio-dehydrator here. Plus, in NSW, Enrich360 is applicable for government grants through the Bin Trim program, meaning you can score up to 50 percent off your machine. If you are purchasing an Enrich360 outside of NSW, don’t stress; Vanrooy can certainly assist in helping you find what Government Grants may be available to you.
