Closed Loop Food Production and the ‘Greening’ of Corrections Facilities: Using Composted Kitchen Waste for Fresh Food Production

Abstract

Food represents a large proportion of putrescible waste in landfill in Australia, with very little food waste processed to recover resources. This has environmental impacts in the form of greenhouse gas generation and other externalities. Prisons typically waste high levels of food compared to the general community and, with the exception of a few small-scale and isolated composting examples in Australian prisons, the majority of prison food waste is sent to landfill. Internationally, especially in the U.S.A., the so-called ‘greening of corrections’ has gained pace over the past few decades with the movement espousing similar objectives to certain United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. The literature suggests that prisoner participation in sustainability measures, environmental stewardship programs, landscape gardening and or agricultural/horticultural production decreases the chance of recidivism and is likely to improve the chance of post-release employment in the sustainability industry. As part of the greening of corrections, there are a number of examples of large-scale food waste composting operations used as the basis for significant, and often lucrative, fresh food production in prisons. Various U.S.A. prisons have demonstrated substantial waste disposal savings and further savings on fertilizers and fresh produce as a result of food waste composting processes. The types of food waste composting technologies and techniques utilised in these U.S.A. prisons, the savings in waste disposal fees and fertilizer costs, and the consequent food production could have beneficial impacts if modified for Australian conditions.