[dropcap size=small]S[/dropcap]ingaporeans aren’t just into eating food – we also like throwing it away. Over the past decade, food waste here has grown by nearly 50 per cent to 785,500 tonnes.

That’s a lot of discarded edibles. So much so that the National Environment Agency has started a project to raise awareness of food-waste management, and is planning to install food-waste recycling machines in 10 schools.

Composting is a great way to recycle unfinished food into fertiliser, and this is a boon for any urban garden. Problem is, the process can be laborious and/or slow.

Food scraps are gobbled up by the Zera Food Recycler and turned into nutrient-packed fertiliser for the garden.

American appliance-maker Whirlpool has a solution: the Zera Food Recycler, which gobbles up food scraps and turns it into rich fertiliser in a week.

Sweep unwanted leftovers (sans bones and pits, which can’t be processed) into Zera. Add a plantbased additive made from coconut husk and baking soda to speed up the process, and that’s it.

The appliance uses heat, oxygen and moisture to digest the waste, but you won’t see or smell the compost until it’s ready for the garden.

Consider this loop closed.

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