As a part of waste management, the solid waste is segregated in bins where the materials recyclable are taken to recycling units to make substitute for virgin materials. The solid wastes also includes food wastes from houses, refreshment centers and hotels .These wastes are not treated and are left over the low lying areas for putrefaction. Some part of the waste is used effectively for composting and is used as fertilizers. The food waste can be used effectively to make some substitute materials in construction industry such as partition walls, textile & furniture. The effective use of food waste which is recycled without throwing out can develop a green building with less greenhouse emission.

Why recycling necessary?

Dumping of food waste requires a large area for landfilling. Even though when it is filled, the leachate from waste will sometimes mix with groundwater causes contamination. There are many natural effects which arise due to the careless dispose of waste into the atmosphere. The food waste breakdown hardly to release methane which is very harmful to us. By recycling, we are recovering the energy which is utilized by that food item in production, packing and transportation. For a neat & clean environment it is better to recycle food waste into useful products.

Why sustainable buildings?

The amount of energy used and pollution created from man-made construction materials is astounding. The amount of harmful substances and chemicals used is growing all the time, leading to many people becoming allergic or getting sick around the globe. In order to increase the quality of environment and to decrease the depletion of resources, it is necessary to approach construction sector with a sustainability concept. The idea associated with sustainability is to increase the lifetime of building with less cost. Sustainably-built green homes are healthier and more comfortable. Sustainable building materials emit few, if any, toxins such as carcinogens, VOC’s etc.

How to Recycle?

British architecture student Jack Munro once proposed freeze-dried blood, mixed with sand to form a paste which is further cast as bricks. This could be especially useful in remote communities, where blood from animal slaughter is plentiful. Why shouldn’t we reuse the other food items if the blood itself can be effectively used to produce building blocks?

Before recycling, it is necessary to categorize the food items into materials that they can be transformed. Peanuts, wheat, pineapple, hemp, rice, maize, bananas, potatoes, and mushrooms are suitable to produce distinct building materials. A number of organic waste streams could be used to make partition wall application such as bagasse, cellulose, seeds, stalks, or peanut shell. These products are generally characterized by low specific weight therefore are easy to handle and are sufficiently stiff to ensure appropriate resistance to impacts. The peanuts are compressed by hot press procedure and with the use of formaldehyde free adhesive to form boards able to insulate heat & cold. This can be substituted to conventional particle boards or wooden boards resulting sustainability and economy. Light weight tiles can be developed with the help of polymer extracted from the organic waste. An evocative design can be evolved using mushrooms as an insulated medium within the wall. In fact mushrooms bricks have been used to create the structure of three towers for an installation for the MoMa in New York City. The use of mushroom was effective as it grows the structure inside. The peels of potato forms an insulating and fire resistant layer when it is pressed and dried. Fibrous fruits such as banana, pineapple etc can form textiles & carpets with the use of strong & light weight fibers. Sugarcane is pressed in machines to form stiff boards. Bio composites are composed of natural fibers such as flax, hemp and jute and natural resin derived from residual waste from sugar cane and corn harvesting. The residual waste from corn cobs can be used for making sandwich cores which possess high strength and good insulation.

The use of food packing can also recycled to produce different materials, such as plastic bags to make decorative walls, wine corks, plasphalt etc. Plasphalt is made up of plastic grains to replace sand used in asphalt production. Due to high bonding developed between plastic and sand, the roads become less vulnerable to wear & tear.

Bio-loop concept

A new paradigm of bio-loop is utilizing the waste food to circulate components without loss of energy. Using food waste will reduce the greenhouse effect and also enhance a circular economy. Due to this it adds the sustainability concept where the waste generated and energy wasted is comparatively zero. This circular flow of economy is termed as bio-loop. New models should be introduced time to time in order to replenish the scarce materials. The resource in this circular economy is only the organic food waste disposed. In the current model the food waste is disposed by land filling, composting or incineration. Whereas in bio-loop concept a relative cycle of nutrients is ensured without loss.It can be concluded that, the food waste generated can be reduced by applying suitable measures time to time. When they are recycled to useful products, the environmental impact over the construction industry is reduced considerably.