Andreas Behnsen <A.Behnsen@FH-Wolfenbuettel.DE> asked:
>1. Who are the competitors for the separated organic materials?
>
>2. What are the problems in implementing a source separation
>system for households?

Rogier had previously replied to these questions.  I would add: some study of
the uses of urban organic wastes is being done in Nairobi and Hyderabad
(India) under a project on recycling and reuse funded by the European Union.
There are no formal reports on the research as yet, but I can say that in
both cities numerous practices of using organic wastes for animal feed have
been documented.  Food wastes are channeled on a large scale to piggeries,
and to goats, kept by households.  In Hyderabad, when farmers deliver their
produce to green markets, they often take away market waste for use on their
farms.  Hotel, restaurant, and wedding place food wastes are usually
'bespoken' for animal feed.  Butchers bones go to fertilizer manufacturers.
Manure from the Hyderabad race course goes to a mushroom farm, and so on.
Some other practices in organic waste reuse are noted in a chapter by myself,
Virginia Maclaren and Joseph Whitney published in the IDRC book For
Hunger-proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems edited by Mustafa Koc,
Rod MacRae, Luc J.A. Mougeot, and Jennifer Welsh, Ottawa 1999.

2.  Why is source separation so difficult to implement?  I wish to add to
what Rogier said.

  I think that many householders in Asian cities are already practising more
thorough source separation than has been the case in Northern cities (until
wet/dry systems came in).  This is because the existence of itinerant buyers
and small traders of recyclables/reusables, together with extensive and
diverse recycling industries enables waste generators to sell the usual
materials.  So, the failure of source separation is not due to a lack of
habit to separate per se.

 What exactly is failing?  Not separation of non-organics as such but the
requirement to keep organics separate and sufficiently pure to allow
composting.  People are not in the habit of keeping organics that they cannot
pass on to farmers, pure from contamination.  And, there is no economic
incentive to do this.  Also there is little understanding of the problems of
urban waste management, so environmental motivations do not provide an
alternative to economic gain.  One could add other aspects such as the fact
that organic wastes are often handled by servants, who would have to be
trained along with householders.  Altogether, the educational requirement is
much more complicated in these cities.  And, for the most part, experiments
in source separation are not backed by solid waste departments.

Chris

Christine Furedy, D. Phil.
Senior Scholar & Professor Emerita
Urban Studies, York University
Adjunct Professor, Institute of Environmental Studies,
University of Toronto