Food Waste Composting at Faculty
of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia
Sabah
Sariah Saalah, Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Nur Ain Syafiqah Azmi
and Ahmad Fathuddin Fikri Mohammad
Abstract The initiative of campus sustainability has been introduced in Universiti
Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2013, through the establishment of UMS EcoCampus
Management Centre. Waste management is one of the EcoCampus management
strategies. In this work, waste audit was conducted to determine food waste generation
at the cafeteria of Faculty of Engineering, UMS. Food waste is the major group of
waste generated which is equivalent to 75% of total waste collected in four weeks.
Around 127.7 kg of food waste is generated per week, with average 25.5 kg per day.
The moisture content and density of the food waste were in the range of 75.0–77.5%
and 2733 to 3877 kg/m
3 , respectively. The food waste collected was combined with
dry leaves and successfully used as feedstock for composting process over 55 days.
During composting process, the highest temperature achieved was 57 °C on day 25.
Interestingly, the maximum intensity of the odour detected at 1 m distance from the
composter is considered very weak. In terms of mass reduction, the residual mass
after 55 days of composting process is 124.99 kg out of 232 kg, which is equivalent
to 46.3% of mass reduction from the total weight of the feedstock.
Keywords UMS EcoCampus · Composting · Food waste generation
1 Introduction
Waste minimization is at the forefront of campus sustainability initiatives. Universiti Malaysia Sabah UMS) has established the EcoCampus Management Centre in
February 2013 as a platform for the university to provide a framework that is to be
S. Saalah (B) · M. Rajin · A. Z. Yaser · N. A. S. Azmi · A. F. F. Mohammad
Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan
UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: s_sariah@ums.edu.my
M. Rajin
e-mail: mariani@ums.edu.my
A. Z. Yaser
e-mail: zahrim@ums.edu.my
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Z. Yaser (ed.), Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_13
173
of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia
Sabah
Sariah Saalah, Mariani Rajin, Abu Zahrim Yaser, Nur Ain Syafiqah Azmi
and Ahmad Fathuddin Fikri Mohammad
Abstract The initiative of campus sustainability has been introduced in Universiti
Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2013, through the establishment of UMS EcoCampus
Management Centre. Waste management is one of the EcoCampus management
strategies. In this work, waste audit was conducted to determine food waste generation
at the cafeteria of Faculty of Engineering, UMS. Food waste is the major group of
waste generated which is equivalent to 75% of total waste collected in four weeks.
Around 127.7 kg of food waste is generated per week, with average 25.5 kg per day.
The moisture content and density of the food waste were in the range of 75.0–77.5%
and 2733 to 3877 kg/m
3 , respectively. The food waste collected was combined with
dry leaves and successfully used as feedstock for composting process over 55 days.
During composting process, the highest temperature achieved was 57 °C on day 25.
Interestingly, the maximum intensity of the odour detected at 1 m distance from the
composter is considered very weak. In terms of mass reduction, the residual mass
after 55 days of composting process is 124.99 kg out of 232 kg, which is equivalent
to 46.3% of mass reduction from the total weight of the feedstock.
Keywords UMS EcoCampus · Composting · Food waste generation
1 Introduction
Waste minimization is at the forefront of campus sustainability initiatives. Universiti Malaysia Sabah UMS) has established the EcoCampus Management Centre in
February 2013 as a platform for the university to provide a framework that is to be
S. Saalah (B) · M. Rajin · A. Z. Yaser · N. A. S. Azmi · A. F. F. Mohammad
Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan
UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
e-mail: s_sariah@ums.edu.my
M. Rajin
e-mail: mariani@ums.edu.my
A. Z. Yaser
e-mail: zahrim@ums.edu.my
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Z. Yaser (ed.), Green Engineering for Campus Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7260-5_13
173