NMBU’s trashy handling of food waste
NMBU’s trashy handling of food waste
The pilot project SirkulærMat (Cirkular Food) ask the following question: How can we create a sustainable model for circular food production at Campus Ås?
Journalist: Henrik Bakken
Photographer: Malene Tangen
Translator: Amalie Pedersen Brønmo
During the summer, the project had internships with three master’s students in Urban Agriculture. The three students were given the case of working with SirkulærMat’s project. They point out the problems of NMBU not utilizing their spaces, resources and knowledge for food composting. The students have actual solutions to these problems, but are facing the bureaucracy as their biggest opponent. SirkulærMat is a project running from 2023 to 2026, and they’re researching how food waste can be transformed into a fertilizer for local farming through a local system – a circular model.
Tuntreet had a chat with one of the students from the project, Oskar Sagedal Aalholm, in Vitenenga a few days after we first met at SirkulærMat’s stand by Andedammen. He is critiquing the Department of Estates and Facilities for their lack of interest, while also doing some public educating about composting food waste. Their criticism of NMBU is based on the changes in the waste regulations. With these changes it is no longer permitted to throw food, plastic and gardening waste. It should be sorted for recycling of materials and not for energy recovery.
They highlight the problem with lack of possibility for recycling food waste on campus. Food waste is only sorted separately in the cafeterias at NMBU, and on NMBU’s webpages they recommend you to throw it in the general waste if you’re uncertain. This is not according to the updated waste regulations, where throwing food with the general waste is not permitted. That’s why Aalholm is critical of the lack of places to throw food waste.
Another challenge is what Aalholm describes as a rigid legislation for composting food waste, which is regulated by Mattilsynet (the Norwegian Food Safety Authority). In today’s system, all organic material is sent away. All food waste is sent to Den Magiske Fabrikken (The magical factory) in Tønsberg and according to numbers from SirkulærMat, 6 tons of food waste is sent yearly from NMBU to Tønsberg. In Tønsberg, the food waste is used to produce biogas and biofertilizer. This is recycling of materials, and therefor in line with the regulations, but still in strong contrast to how it was before when the possibility of transporting things away was not here like it is now.
In the 1990’s, Ås students requested a sustainable solution for food waste, and a composting drum was placed in Pentagon. In TT04 in year 2000, you could read that it was removed due to corrosion damage. It should be mentioned that the student mass is considerably bigger today, but the interest, space and possibility is there.
Aalholm wants to highlight what is often called "waste" as a valuable resource. If you met the team behind the project at their stand on Campus a few weeks ago, you could see the waste bin they created. Through the project, they have made what might look like an ordinary trash can, but they have chosen to call it a "resource bin." A resource bin because food waste is a potential resource, with proper handling. He emphasizes that they are not trying to assign blame but rather explore opportunities. He argues that here in Ås, they have the space and the plants needed to keep the food waste on campus. It is cheaper and more sustainable, and it would save money by avoiding the need to buy compost. "It is an incredibly important resource, which is currently treated as waste," says Aalholm.
Aalholm has no examples of educational institutions with better solutions than NMBU, but believes that one should expect a university that markets itself so strongly as a "sustainability university" to be able to follow the law. NMBU has previously been criticized for "greenwashing," and Aalholm believes that NMBU's choice to overlook legal requirements gives reason to criticize the university for precisely that, even if it is not an active decision on NMBU's part.
We asked the Director of Estates and Facilities Kjersti Sørlie Rimer for a comment on SirkulærMat's claims. She responded the following: "We greatly appreciate feedback from our students! We are constantly working to ensure that the operations and waste management at the university are as good as possible, and we will take these suggestions into account."
When it comes to the current routines for sorting food waste, the total value of the waste is what determines whether it is sustainable to sort out the food waste. This means that in locations without food production or a cafeteria, it would not be sustainable to sort food waste separately, as these bins wouldn’t fill up between each collection. As a result, the environmental impact of sorting out food waste becomes greater than if it were not sorted separately.
The three master’s students have now completed their internship project but hope that new students will take over the initiative.
