1

Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APB)

In APB, spent grains from the brewing process are fully repurposed to animal feed.

APB partners a vendor to offtake the spent grains for animal feed production. This diverted around 1,375 tonnes per month of spent grains that were meant for disposal in 2020, opening up a revenue stream and saved costs in spent grain waste management and disposal fees. It also reinforces APB’s position as a sustainable brewer in Singapore.

APB also conducted feasibility studies with government ministries, universities, and other partners to recycle spent grains into reusable items. For example, in 2019, a snack, Tiger crisps, was developed from spent grains with research partners including then-Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and Nanyang Technology University (NTU). The Tiger Crisps were piloted in APB’s tavern and at a pop-up bar in the same year.

2

ecoWise Group

ecoWise adopts a drying process to produce animal feed ingredient from spent grain and soya waste.

These food waste materials are dried in a dryer plant equipped with 3 units of tube bundle dryer and a paddle dryer. Steam used by the dryer plant is supplied from a biomass boiler, from the combustion of woodchips produced by ecoWise’s wood and horticultural waste recycling plant. The dried material is packed and sold to customers as animal feed ingredient.

ecoWise’s drying process contributes to the valorisation of the food waste by preserving the nutrition content of the animal feed through moisture removal up to 90%. This kills the microorganisms, thereby stopping the decomposition process, preventing hygiene issues, and allowing the dried material to have a longer shelf-life and lower transport requirements.

ecoWise is valorising around 2,900 tonnes per month of food waste into 570 tonnes per month of animal feed ingredient, which is sold to animal feed manufacturing plant.

3

Insectta

Insectta is Singapore’s first Black Soldier Fly (BSF) biotech company, transforming food waste into high-value biomaterials with the black soldier flies. BSF larvae have the ability to consume food waste at incredible speeds, eating up to 4 times their body weight in food waste a day.

Insectta sources their pre-consumer food waste from generators such as soya bean factories and beer breweries daily.

Using proprietary techniques, Insectta extracts high-value biomaterials from them such as chitosan and melanin, and continues their R&D efforts to produce these resources for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and bioelectronics industries.

Insectta’s facility valorises about 8 tonnes of food waste a month. Insectta also acts as a hatchery, supplying eggs to BSF farms around Singapore.

1

A1 Environment Pte Ltd

A1 Environment recovers and uses spent coffee grounds to create beautiful and functional furniture.

The spent coffee grounds are used to create a fire-retardant bio-composite material, in the form of panels, which comprises up to 70% spent coffee grounds. The panel provides an alternative material to wood, which can be reintroduced into the manufacturing process in a circular manner.

Currently, A1 Environment recovers 17 tonnes per month of spent coffee grounds, which are sent to local organic farms to make compost and used to make the coffee biomaterial.

By the end of 2022, A1 Environment plans to double the amount of spent coffee grounds processed. As the cost of the material is comparable to other fire-retardant wood options out there in the market, this presents sustainable alternative that consumers can have.

A1 Environment is also looking at extending the use of this process for other types of single-stream food waste like coffee husks and tea leaves.

2

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR

Researchers at A*STAR’s IMRE have found a way to use food waste to create engineered biocellulose for high-value medical biomaterials and engineering composites.

By optimising the cultivating media – food waste – for biocellulose, the research team can make biocellulose films in a way that is suitable for large-scale production, paving the way for more sustainable alternatives to the traditional linear economy of take, make, and dispose.

The research team continues to modify these biocellulose films for a range of applications, such as biomaterials, food, photonics, and electronics.

3

CRUST Group

CRUST Group is a food tech start-up that valorises food waste and loss into unique value-added products such as the CRUST beers.

Under the Sustainable Unique Label (SUL) Model, CRUST works with other companies to turn their surplus food ingredients into beers and other beverages, including the development of non-alcoholic beverages from fruit peels and vegetables. CRUST also uses various techniques such as heat treatment and fermentation for the extraction of flavours from different surplus ingredients.

With R&D, CRUST develops unique recipes for their partners, depending on their needs and the surplus food provided to CRUST gets from them. Through upcycling their surplus food, CRUST helps businesses create new products of value, which they can then use to earn additional revenue while reducing their own food waste.

4

Ento Industries Pte Ltd

Ento Industries is a biotechnology company that harnesses the abilities of insects to close the food waste loop.

Ento Industries utilises the larvae of insects called Black Soldier Flies (BSF) for the bioconversion of food waste that is collected from local food manufacturers. Different food waste streams are treated and formulated into a proprietary feedstock, before being fed to the BSF in a climate-controlled setting that encourages uniform and high-growth conversion rates.

The valorised output consists of fattened larvae and insect frass which are separated and processed to produce high-value feed and fertiliser products for the agricultural industry.

The food waste bioconversion system is modular and can be duplicated, in part or as a whole, for the implementation of food resource valorisation operations in highly urbanised cities such as Singapore.

Since its inception in 2020, Ento Industries has saved over 10 tonnes of food waste and produced over 2 tonnes of agricultural products, which can substitute ingredients such as fish meal and soybean meal. They are ramping up efforts to take in more food waste.

5

Insect Feed Technologies (IFT)

IFT is a biotechnology company that farms insects as a sustainable source for animal feed nutrition.

IFT’s process starts by collecting locally sourced food waste such as spent grains and soyabean residue from food manufacturers. IFT inoculates the food waste with its proprietary strains of bacteria to retain the food waste quality for valorisation by the Black Soldier Flies (BSF). Besides building capabilities in processing the food waste, IFT has also developed processes to ensure a closed, controlled environment along with feed formulation know-how to optimise the waste conversion process by the insect larvae.

After feeding them with food waste, the larvae will turn into a harvestable source of nutrition suitable for animal feed. The larvae portion is heat treated and is sold as pet and aquafeed. The frass is used as nutritional soil amendment for farming. To date, the company has valorised more than 32 tons of food waste as part of its pilot R&D phase.

IFT’s technological value-add can be considered in 3 cost aspects. First, the reduction of environmental cost of food waste disposal. Second, companies can partner IFT as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative while saving on the financial cost of disposing food waste. Lastly, as IFT scales-up, IFT is looking to produce insect protein and frass on an industrial scale. This will likely reduce the cost of animal feed and organic soil amendment in Singapore.

6

Kosmode Health Singapore Pte Ltd

Kosmode Health enables access to health from nature through valorising food processing waste-streams into functional ingredients and food for human nutrition.

Kosmode Health collects freshly generated barley spent grains (BSG) from beer breweries and malt factories. The BSG is dried immediately, then processed into fine protein fibre powder. The powder is formulated into W0W®noodle premix, which is used to manufacture W0W®noodle – the only high fibre protein noodle with no glycaemic index (GI) and the only functional noodle produced from food processing waste-streams. W0W®noodle is a fresh, clean label and fully plant-based functional noodles that can be cooked like any normal starchy noodles.

However, unlike rice and starchy noodles, W0W®noodles do not contribute to diabetes as there is no post prandial blood sugar elevation. Also, W0W®noodle’s high barley fibre content per serving is beneficial to gut microbiota. Barley protein also serves as an additional source of protein. With the aging and diabetic population, the target consumer segment which W0W®noodles was formulated for, it addresses the under-consumption of fibre and protein.

Currently, Kosmode Health processes on average about 100kg of BSG per month. Kosmode Health is in the process of fund raising to build a pilot production capacity of at least 100kg BSG valorisation per day.

7

Otolith Enrichment

Otolith Enrichment serves as the integrator and facilitator for the Sustainability @ Tampines Park project, by building a circular economy within a residential area, through the valorisation of food waste using Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSFL).

Residents nearby donate food waste to the facility which are fed to the BSFL. The BSFL is then used to feed the Tilapia fish in the nearby pond and the frass (excrete) is used as fertiliser for growing vegetables in the nearby vertical farm. To store the larvae, they are dehydrated using a dehydrator to be used as fish feed when required. Participating residents are able to redeem the vegetables and fishes using the “Green currency” earned from either the participation in food waste contribution or by volunteering at the facility.

Since the project reopened in July 2020, the residents have contributed 500 kg per month of food waste, translating to savings on waste transportation and disposal costs.

8

Singnergy Corporation Pte Ltd

Singnergy’s Super-Quick (SQ) drying technologies provide upcycling solutions for wet food waste into high-value end products in an energy efficient manner.

SQ drying technology utilises induction heating with compression to accelerate water evaporation from the food waste, achieving less than 10% moisture content within 10 to 16minutes in continuous operation. The in-built high efficiency induction heater provides instant heat up, resulting in substantial energy savings. Its heating parameters can be adjusted instantly to enable the attainment of high-quality dried products.

Food waste spoilage originates from the moisture within food waste and microorganisms. Singnergy minimises food waste spoilage with their SQ Dryer by vaporising water and killing microorganisms within the food waste to stop the decomposition process. This retains the quality of food waste for upcycling into high value products.

The valorised products from SQ dryers are high in nutrition, superior in organoleptic properties while free from pathogens and mycotoxins. Singnergy has valorised several types of food waste locally including spent barley grains, Okara, and fish waste with at least 35% energy savings as compared to conventional dryers.

Name

Designation and Organisation

Mr Christopher Tan

Director (Sustainability Division), NEA

Mr Sim Jun Hua

Principal Engineer (Waste Management Division), NEA

Mr Chew Chee Bin

Director, Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF)

Mr Wong Mong Hong

Emeritus President, Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA)

Ms Lee Gee Chyn

Vice-Chairman (Food & Beverages Industry Group), Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF)

Dr Eric Peterson

Senior Research Fellow, Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation, A*STAR

Ms Angelin Yeo

Senior Development Partner (Foodtech & Ingredients), Enterprise Singapore (ESG)

Ms Vanessa Chee

Manager (Food Department, Food & Lifestyle Cluster), JTC

Dr Wilson Wong

Deputy Director (Jurong Lake Gardens Operations), National Parks Board (NParks)

Mr Ong Yihang

Assistant Director (Urban Food Solutions Division), Singapore Food Agency (SFA)