About 3,500 tonnes of food waste was discarded in Hong Kong every day in 2011. The food waste causes a strain on the city's landfills and on the environment. The Kowloon Bay Pilot Composting Plant, a part of the solution, was opened in mid-2008. Each year, the facility converts 500 tonnes of food waste into 100 tonnes of compost. This project is composed by Alexandra Hoegberg, and all images and information in this slide were retrieved from the homepage of the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (epd.gov.hk), unless otherwise specified.

1. The Kowloon Bay Pilot Composting Plant
processes about 500 tonnes of food waste annually
This is how it works
A project by Alexandra Hoegberg,

2. When food waste is delivered to the
Composting Plant, it is already
source separated. Compostable
items such as eggshells, vegetables,
bread, meat and bones, rice,
noodles and fruit have been
separated from non-compostable
items, like different kinds of food
Source separated waste arrives packaging – including paper
cartons.
After it has arrived to the Plant, the food waste is first sorted
manually in the Plant’s sorting facility, and is drained of any waste-
water.
photo epd.gov.hk

3. The second part of the pre-
treatment, after the sorting, is
mixing the food waste with
bulking agents, such as saw dust
or wood chips. This is done to
ensure that the food waste’s mass
will get the right porosity and
moisture for optimum
composting in the next step.
In the Mixing Facility
bulking agents are
added
photo epd.gov.hk

4. The actual composting begins
when the mixed waste is fed into
the composting drum units, where
biological bacteria decomposes the
waste for 10 days. Heat is released
during this process, and the
2 tonnes of food waste is temperature inside the drum is
fed into the In-Vessel kept between 55oC and 70oC; this
Composting Unit every temperature range is ideal for
day! composting, and it kills off any
unhealthy pathogens that might
otherwise thrive in such an
environment.
photo epd.gov.hk

5. After 10 days in the composting
drums, the food waste has turned
into premature compost. It is now
piled up in the curing pads, where
it will undergo a curing period of
about 30 days before it is
The premature compost is completely decomposed. During
piled in the Curing Pads to the curing, the compost is
finalize the composting cultivated and sprayed with water
process regularly, to maintain optimum
composting conditions.
photo epd.gov.hk

6. When the compost is mature, it
is sieved through a so-called
product screen, which vibrates
and thus removes any rubbish,
as well as the bulking agents
that were added during the pre-
treatment. The wood chips that
are removed here are later re-
In the Product Screen,
items that shouldn’t be
used as bulking agents.
a part of the finished
compost is sifted out
photo epd.gov.hk

7. The final product is ready to be packed and delivered to the users
photo: normanack