【Special Issues: Industrial waste taxes】
Food Industry and Household Waste: Current Situation and Future Trends
Akikuni Ushikubo
Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Professor
（1-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8502 Japan）


Abstract
Regarding wastes discharged from food products, wastes generated from households at not only the production and distribution stages, but also at the consumption stage, make up for more than half of the total amount of food wastes. With this in mind, the Food Recycling Law was put into effect in order to limit the generation of food waste, and to promote the formation of a circulation-based society that makes effective use of resources. A survey was conducted to investigate the present situation with regard to the amount of food industry wastes are being generated by the food manufacturing industry and food wastes generated in households.
The survey revealed that the sludge discharge from food industry wastes comprises 3.1％ of Japan's total amount of sludge discharge. It also showed that the food industry's animal and plant residues reached 78.2％ of the total amount of animal/plant residues in all of Japan for the year 2000. As for household food waste, 70％ of the total amount of waste was shown to be comprised of cooking scraps and uneaten food that had been discarded. Because there are many difficulties in recycling household food wastes within the home, it is crucial to make the best possible use of resources through the reduction of waste generation and careful separation of wastes for re-use and recycling.


Key words: food industry waste, household food waste, food waste recycling, composter