Update
PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The Bossiesgif informal settlement in Bitou Municipality has been fingered as one of the most influential communities in the Western Cape's ongoing food waste management movement.
Food waste is a worldwide epidemic: one-third of food on a global scale is either wasted or spoiled food.
Food waste lying at dumpsites also results in methane gas build-up, which has been reported by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation as "25 times more damaging than carbon dioxide". In the not too distant future, this will result in an additional increase in the effects of climate change.
According to Garden Route District Municipality's Bitou-based municipal health official Maxwelline Fatuse, Bossiesgif manages their food waste in a different, but clever way. This community made a collective and positive routine change in their daily habits. They utilise reusable 10-litre waste bins or paint bins, hang it outside to fencing poles, which are then filled with food scraps from their kitchens. The bins are picked up twice a week and used to feed six pig farms situated near the community.
A community member of Bossiesgif, Mr Mqalo said: "Our community initiative has been conscious of waste minimisation for years and this community drive helps us to reduce the municipal bins from filling up too quickly. It also helps feed the pigs of farmers and in turn, reduces the waste that would usually be dumped at landfill sites."
He explained that community members know to only discard organic waste in the bins. "There has not been a single report of pigs getting sick due to this approach of discarding household scrap food," Mr Mqalo said.
The surrounding areas that include New Horizon, Kwanokutula, Pinetrees and Qolweni have also adopted this method of discarding food waste. Over time, this shifts a mountain of waste into feed for pigs. This initiative proves that when communities work collectively to change societal habits for the better, it can move mountains – in this case, mountains of waste.
Read a previous article here: Bossiesgif leading food waste management movement
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