Food Waste Management

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Food Waste Valorisation

Food waste valorisation

Food waste valorisation is the conversion of food waste or by-products into higher value products that contribute back to the food supply chain. This contributes to the circular economy approach where useful material, once seen as waste, is recycled back into the supply chain to create new products. It is one of the food waste recycling pathways that can help to close the food waste loop.

Food Resource Valorisation Awards

FVA Logo

The Food Resource Valorisation Awards seek to encourage more organisations to adopt and develop food waste valorisation solutions, by recognising companies that engage in the conversion of food waste, such as homogenous by-products, rejects and mixed food waste, into products that contribute to a sustainable economy.

Please visit https://www.nea.gov.sg/fva for more information on the awards.

Industry Awareness Briefing webinar series

A series of Industry Awareness Briefing (IAB) webinars was held in 2020:

  • The inaugural IAB, co-organised by NEA and A*STAR, was held on 16 June 2020. The session addressed the main motivations behind food waste valorisation and introduced local solutions for recycling okara waste and soy bean waste.
  • The 2nd IAB webinar was held on 15 Dec 2020. This session covered local solutions for recycling spent barley grains and coffee grounds. The recordings of the presentations can be found under Annex A below.

Local institutions have also contributed with their research efforts towards developing capabilities in this area. Listed below are food waste valorisation projects focusing on okara, soy bean waste and spent coffee grounds. Please contact the institutions directly should you wish to engage them on their projects.

Research Institution
Title of projectsAbstract of project(s)Contact Information 
Nanyang PolytechnicRecycling Okara into sustainable value-added Okara Spirulina BiscuitsNYP - Okara into Okara Spirulina Biscuits Dr Gan Heng Hui
gan_heng_hui@nyp.edu.sg
National University of Singapore
(in partnership with Soynergy Pte Ltd)		Bio-processed okara for value-added healthy food productsNUS - Bio-processed okara for value-added healthy food products
Dr Lin Jing
fstljin@nus.edu.sg
Republic PolytechnicValorisation of Spent Coffee Grounds for Hydroponic FarmingRP - Coffee Waste ValorisationDr Goh Chee Keong
goh_chee_keong@rp.edu.sg
Republic PolytechnicUse of soya food waste for formulation of aqua feedRP - Use of Soya Food WasteDr Chiradin Chatterjee
help-OTD@rp.edu.sg
National University of SingaporeValorisation of spent coffee grounds by biotransformationNUS - Valorisation of Spent Coffee GroundsDr Liu Shao Quan
fstlsg@nus.edu.sg

The attached information was updated as of 11 January 2021.

Annex A - Recordings of Presentations

  • Overview of NEA’s Food Waste Management Roadmap (by NEA) - An overview of Singapore’s food waste management strategy and introduction to food waste valorisation.

  • Conversion of spent grains into Protein Rich, High Fibre noodle (by KosmodeHealth Singapore Pte Ltd) - A sharing on Kosmodehealth’s solution to convert spent grains into functional food products.

  • Conversion of used coffee grounds into bio-composite material (by A1 Environment Pte Ltd) - A sharing on A1 Environment’s solution to process spent coffee grounds into useful products like a bio-composite material.