Food waste interlocking concrete (FWC+)

The focused problem for Tree.IO is to reduce the impact of current food waste treatment on climate change.

The focused problem for Tree.IO is to reduce the impact of current food waste treatment on climate change (SDG 13: Climate Action). The motivation to alleviate such problems is the large amount of food waste in the world. Globally, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. This amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year. In South Asia and Southeast Asia, food waste accounts for 25% of global food waste. 3000 tonnes of food waste is estimated to be generated daily in Malaysia alone.  Food wastage due to overconsumption has posed a problem to the environment as it contributes to landfills, which further leads to climate problems. 

Food waste commonly includes 11% meat by weight, 42% of vegetables, 22% of cereal, 15% of water and 10% of other substances. The current food waste processes are anaerobic digestion, landfill, incineration, composting, and heat-moisture reaction. In some countries, the disposal of food wastes at the landfill sites is the largest source for greenhouse gas emission. Like in Malaysia, 80% of the food waste is thrown into landfill. For the impact on climate change, landfill creates environmental impacts of 10 times higher than the other treatment methods because landfill produces more greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Furthermore, the cement and construction industry are huge polluters of air and water. The cement industry alone can contribute up to 8% of global CO2 emissions. Tree.IO is resolute to overcome the food waste problem by marrying the ideas of a cleaner and cheaper construction process and utilization of sustainable food waste materials to develop the food waste interlocking concrete with cladding (FWC+). 

1.Fortier, A., (2021). A Complete Overview of the Food Waste Crisis In Southeast Asia. [online] Foodcycler. https://www.foodcycler.com/post/an-overview-of-the-food-waste-crisis-in-southeast-asia#:~:text=A study performed by the of the globe’s food waste.&text=Malaysia generates 38%2C 000 tons,feed ~2 million hungry people.

2.Nadzri, B. (2013). Development of a national strategic plan for food waste management in Malaysia. Retrieved on August 7, 2022.
https://www.uncrd.or.jp/content/documents/Hanoi%203R%20Forum%20PS5_Malaysia.pdf

3. Gao, A., Tian, Z., Wang, Z., Wennersten, R., & Sun, Q. (2017). Comparison between the technologies for food waste treatment. Energy Procedia, 105, 3915-3921.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/...

4.Anonymous, 2022. THE SIZE OF THE PROBLEM. [online] The Lost Food Project. https://www.thelostfoodproject.org/the-size-of-the-problem/#:~:text=In Malaysia 3%2C000 tonnes of,10 million people every day

5.Hashim, A., Kadir, A., Ibrahim, M., Halim, S., Sarani, N., Hassan, M., . . . Hissham, N. (2021). Overview on food waste management and composting practice in Malaysia. AIP Conference Proceedings

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/5.0044206

6.Walker, T. (2022). Green construction: Fixing concrete's carbon footprint. DW. https://www.dw.com/en/concrete-cement-climate-carbon-footprint/a-60588204#:~:text=The%20cement%20industry%20is%20responsible,by%20the%20US%20and%20China

Foodify is a chemical process that we design to produce binder for the concrete.  Our designed process, Foodify, is to petrify collected food waste with bacteria in a mouth cavity-mimic environment. To prepare a cavity-mimic environment, a plastic container covered by stainless steel is filled with artificial mucus and the internal temperature controlled in 37 to 38 degree Celsius. Before the petrification process, collected food waste will be crushed and impacted. During petrification, the food waste will be calcified by the bacteria which result in the creation of stones that contain calcium salts and other chemical components. At the same time, Foodify will generate sulfur-containing gasses. The gasses will be collected to be used in fuel for the extraction process of chemical compounds. 

While the typical concrete mix comprises roughly 10% cement, 20% air and water, 30% sand, and 40% gravel, FWC+ is mainly developed from food waste. Since our product utilizes organic wastes as ingredients to produce cement and as coarse aggregates, coupled with the biomass energy to fuel our production process, our operational product and manufacturing process are sustainable with less carbon emission than traditional concrete production.  Extraction of calcium carbonate from the stone will be used as cement and the use of gasses produced during the chemical reaction of bacteria as biomass. The gravel and sand of our concrete will use crushed animal bones and fly ash as replacements. 

Aside from purely reusing food waste into construction material, we refine our final product by adding other features. The concrete block with its interlocking features reduces the usage of cement as well as an unnecessary waste of resources and energy. Besides, with the prevalence of natural disasters including earthquakes worsened by climate change, it is the interlocking mechanism  that improves strength and integrity of the food waste concrete.

In the current industry practice, food wastes are mostly sent to landfills or incinerated. These treatment practices are known to be unfriendly to the environment, as it generates large amounts of carbon, which in turn accelerates the warming of our Earth. As we know that a major proportion of carbon emission from producing concrete comes from traditional cement, replacing up to half the amount of traditional cement usage with FWC+, would be able to reduce a huge amount of carbon emissions. A simple calculation deduced from the approximate amounts of concrete production and carbon emission from cement, reveals that approximately 900 billion pounds of CO2 can be reduced.

By implementing the usage of FWC+ in non-residential buildings, the number of landfills can potentially be reduced. In turn, this helps to decrease the rate of greenhouse gas emission.  In Malaysia, landfilling is the major source of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases emitted from non-sanitary landfills accounts for 53% of the total carbon emission in the country, and the food wastes is about 32% in the average Malaysian waste composition. Given these assumptions, implementing FWC+ manufacturing process would reduce about 17% of greenhouse gases caused by food wastes decomposing in the landfill. Furthermore, the food wastes are sorted into bone and non-bone materials, bony materials can be manufactured into white cement or crushed processed to become fine aggregates. This will also potentially lessen the need to manufacture binder materials and fine aggregate materials.

While FWC+ aims to reduce carbon emission and pollution, it is also expected to cut down on the cost of concrete production and maintenance by 25%. The estimated price for concrete brick in 2022 is $4.25 to $6.25 per square foot. Since the main ingredient of FWC+ is mainly food waste, and the by-product produced from the production can be used to generate electricity, the estimated price for FWC+ will be between $2.69 and $4.69 per square foot. The production of FWC+ will have a low carbon footprint as most of its components can be sourced locally. The amount of food waste in landfills can be reduced as well.  Besides, the whole production process using alternative fuels from wastes, especially biofuel, is able to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and primary raw materials.  

Besides the environmental impact of the manufacturing process of FWC+, potential products that can be made from FWC+ includes green concrete, precast concrete blocks, precast interlocking concrete blocks, concrete claddings and cement that are of different composition. Placing focus on the precast concrete blocks, these products can reduce labor cost and increase efficiency in labor. Especially the interlocking block, because of its interlocking design, connecting the blocks to construct wall panels would need little to no mortar. When the products are in lightweight form, with a good mix, the concrete may well be able to withstand major shocks, absorb sound, regulate temperatures, and especially hazards such as an earthquake. Meanwhile, FWC+ can also be cast into virtually any shape or form, which allows for design freedom and variety in the applications. Facing the trend toward increasing urbanization results in a growing need for affordable housing, the concrete sector can help tackle the shortage of housing and fulfill the need for rapid construction by providing safe, comfortable, affordable, and energy-efficient housing.

• Lai Jun Tung
  • Major in Civil Engineering 
  • Live and Study in Malaysia
•  Hiew Wing Yian
  • Major in Civil Engineering 
  • Live in Malaysia and study in Singapore
•  Liu Te Ling / Jimmy
  • Major in International  Relations
  • Live and Study in Taiwan

Wing Yian  and I involve in improvement and enhance the design of the whole process by applying engineering knowledge. Jimmy responsible in improve and improvise the design from the business perspective. 

To understand the expectations and needs of the end consumers, a survey was conducted for respondents across demographics. The bilingual questionnaire ended up collecting 117 responses from Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and HongKong. (Chart 1) Respondents at the age of 18 to 25 account for over 50%, and those of other age groups decrease as age range increases. (Chart 2) All four regions share a similar age structure.

We found 4 significant facts based on the survey results. Firstly, with research and quality testing, most of the respondents are willing to accept FWC+ as a construction material. We asked several questions (Table 2) according to a given situation in which the building is partly built by FWC+ while structural parts remain built by normal concrete. The general acceptance rate (percentage of those who specify the extent above 4) surges from 41% to 85.5% when the building has passed resistance testing. The result shows that FWC+ can potentially catch people’s hearts and ensure a certain extent of user acceptance.

Secondly, we concluded that FWC+ is more preferable to be applied in non-bearing walls and non-residential buildings. The general acceptance rate declines in most regions when it comes to buying the building, which means people still have doubts even if it is more affordable. (Chart 4) After collecting other comments, we found it is the potential durability issue that stops people from fully considering buying it. Smell and noise avoidance are also concerns. Besides, many consider it more acceptable to be used in commercial buildings or factories rather than residence. This information helps us to position our service more precisely.

Thirdly, Malaysia is the best place for us to launch our business at the first stage. Malaysia performs the best awareness of food waste and climate change issues (percentage of those who specify the extent above 4). (Table 1 & Chart 3) Malaysia also gets the highest acceptance rate in the most questions and the highest willingness to help FWC+ development by sorting food waste. (Chart 4) Aside from the survey, we further explore the food waste information among regions. Malaysia has initiated national strategic plans for food waste management, which will become a fertilizer for the implementation plan. Besides, Malaysia produces far more food waste per capita than any other region. (Chart 6) More food waste is produced, more resources for us to produce FWC+. Therefore, based on the survey results and information above, Malaysia is our first target market.

Last but not least, FWC+ is able to achieve our vision towards maximizing the value of food waste and alleviating climate change problems. Roughly 85% of respondents agree with the connection between FWC+ and our visions by specifying the extent above 4. (Chart 5) As for why people can’t fully agree with our idea (specify the extent below 5), it is mainly because further research and higher market acceptance are necessary. These factors require a longer time to examine as well as our efforts in the research and design stage.

The development of Foodify as a new biomimicry process serves as a new engineering angle to tackle the climate change and sustainability issue. 

Firstly, foodify requires the interdisciplinary collaboration between civil engineering and bio-science. Hence, foodify helps to foster better partnerships between scientists of different fields. That sparks innovation in construction or any fields where research is carried out. Turns out more opportunities can be explored, technical problems are believed to be covered more comprehensively and hence making the product more convincing.

Secondly, foodify highlights a different direction. Foodify is mainly a concept of making full use of the tonsil stone, an unwanted debris produced by our body, extracting a useful component from it (in this case is calcium carbonate) which actually can be applied beyond the final product (FWC+).

Lastly, foodify provides useful reaction products. On top of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which constitute the majority of chemical, magnesium, chloride, sodium, potassium, sulphate (SO4), nitrates (NO3), silica (SiO2), iron (Fe), fluoride (F) are also produced in the process (Figure 3). Volatile sulfur compounds and sulfur derived gasses are also produced during bacterial metabolism. These sulfur compounds could be used as fuel for the production of FWC+ with methane gasses produced.

Further research and development will be conducted to refine Foodify and FWC+. Possible limitation of FWC+ could be the need to refresh the cladding after a certain period of time. A limitation of Foodify is the storage and processing of volatile sulfur compounds.

Final Product (FWC+)

While the typical concrete mix comprises roughly 10% cement, 20% air and water, 30% sand, and 40% gravel, FWC+ is mainly developed from food waste. Since our product utilizes organic wastes as ingredients to produce cement and as coarse aggregates, coupled with the biomass energy to fuel our production process, our operational product and manufacturing process are sustainable with less carbon emission than traditional concrete production. We plan to mimic the situation of how bacteria calcify food in the tonsil in the production process of FWC+. Extraction of calcium carbonate from the stone will be used as cement and the use of gasses produced during the chemical reaction of bacteria as biomass. The gravel and sand of our concrete will use crushed animal bones and fly ash as replacements. Wastewater will be used as a replacement for the 20% water. Therefore, the entire production process is greener and kinder to the environment at large. 

Aside from purely reusing food waste into construction material, we refine our final product by adding other features so as to further increase the value of our initial food waste concrete. The concrete block with its interlocking features  reduces the usage of cement as well as an unnecessary waste of resources and energy, which means more sustainability in the construction phase. Besides, with the prevalence of natural disasters including earthquakes worsened by climate change, it is the interlocking mechanism  that improves strength and integrity of the food waste concrete.

The strength and novelty of the solution lie in the production process and the application of FWC+. For the process, we use different types of food waste to replace different components in the concrete. We use rice husk ash to replace the fine aggregates, and chicken bones to replace the coarse aggregates. Alternatively, bone materials can react with bacteria and fungi to be decomposed, calcium phosphates as the leftover materials of bone decomposition can be used as cement, which is applicable in the medical field. Its characteristic is bioactive and biodegradable. In this case, the food waste will undergo calcination and therefore produce calcium carbonate and use it to replace Portland cement which can help to reduce the carbon footprint. On top of that, rice husk ash is pozzolanic, which can reduce the use of cement and therefore reduce the emission of CO2. The water used in the mixture is greywater to reduce the consumption of fresh water. With the appropriate percentage of replacement, the compressive strength of the concrete can be enhanced while making the concrete eco-friendly. In addition to that, our idea also includes the storage of the food waste, the gasses produced during the storage like methane, sulfur gas, sulfur derived gas can be used as fuel to generate electricity for the production of concrete, which makes the factory or the lab to be close to self-sufficient and therefore a near zero-waste, zero-carbon emission concrete production. There is currently no similar production process in the market.

In terms of its application, the cladding as the exterior layer of FWC+ can protect the concrete by absorbing external damages or shocks to some extent. Additionally, it can be used to drive greater convenience for the users. For example, wallpaper can be pasted onto the cladding and be replaced with greater ease. Instead of replacing the entire concrete, the cladding itself can also easily be substituted with another in order to make it more aesthetic or purely for maintenance.

Tree.IO Inc will execute its plan in several stages and time frames . In the first year, Tree.IO will focus on research and development procedures to ensure that FWC+ abides by the highest product and regulatory standards. The researchers will rigorously test and examine the strength, porosity, and other dimensions. Refinements will then be made accordingly. For example, the researchers may adjust the ratio of certain components for higher shock resistance. Tree.IO will also become incorporated as a registered business in the construction industry while research is ongoing.

Funding will be sourced from the short to the long term for product development and for accelerated growth of the business. As some of the founders are from academic institutions in Malaysia, FWC+ (and in relation Tree.IO inc) could be commercialized and supported by universities. Initial research grants could be solicited from both public and private sectors which recognize the potential of the business. Subsidies will also be sought from the authorities for the business. Angel investors will also be considered for seed funding of the company,

Since several years are required for patents to be filed in selected geographies including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Tree.IO will apply for business licenses and obtain licenses to operate while concurrently moving ahead with other innovation procedures. SGS and BSEN Test laboratories are identified as potential third-party testing laboratories for Tree.IO to collaborate with. Certification from such laboratories may be required for the business to be authorized for operations and approval for relevant accreditation.

After approximately one year of research and development, the sales and operational processes will then proceed. With a relatively highly competitive rivalry in the industry, it is paramount for Tree.IO to build a credible reputation, network, and reliability. Thus, a stronger brand will be forged through Business To Business Marketing including developing a corporate website, networking with architecture firms, and organizing laboratory or office tours for stakeholders/partners. Tree.IO will also be listed on reliable business listings and directories including Crunchbase. A Google Business Profile will also be created so that Tree.IO will be more visible on the search engine. Paid Advertising may be further considered.

To enhance the online and offline presence, search engine optimization measures will be implemented. Furthermore, social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram will be established. Content on construction-related topics will be rolled out on the platforms. Tree.IO will also attend built environment trade shows to spread awareness of the business and FWC+ as a novel product. Tree.IO’s vision “To rethink, recycle and maximize the value of food waste through the production of green concrete” will also be communicated across various touchpoints. Through such marketing measures, Tree.IO is able to tell its own story and establish itself as a trustworthy and reliable party in the construction industry. Tree.IO also seeks to become associated with innovation and quality.

Brand and marketing measures will help to ease the direct selling process. The direct selling process involves steps like lead generation, business development, cold calling, desktop research, bidding for tenders, etc. For operations, Tree.IO will lease facilities or outsource its productions to third-party concrete manufacturing companies.  In the long term, as operations are scaled, in-house manufacturing capacity (factories) for Tree.IO may be built and strategic partnerships could be forged. In the earlier stages, employees of the business will likely adopt more administrative, architectural, or research-related job scopes.

Foodify is a chemical process that we design to produce binder for the concrete. This process mimics how tonsil stone is formed. Tonsil stones, also called tonsilloliths, are small lumps that form in your tonsils. The main symptom of tonsil stones is bad breath, it is most often caused by bacterial infection. The most common bacteria causing tonsilloliths is anaerobic bacteria, including genera Eubacterium, Fusobacterium, Megasphaera, Porphyromonas, Prevotella, Selenomonas and Tannerella, all of which appear to be associated with production of volatile sulfur compounds. Our designed process, Foodify, is to petrify collected food waste with bacteria in a mouth cavity-mimic environment. To prepare a cavity-mimic environment, a plastic container covered by stainless steel is filled with artificial mucus and the internal temperature controlled in 37 to 38 degree Celsius. Before the petrification process, collected food waste will be crushed and impacted. During petrification, the food waste will be calcified by the bacteria which result in the creation of stones that contain calcium salts and other chemical components. At the same time, Foodify will generate sulfur-containing gasses. The gasses will be collected to be used in fuel for the extraction process of chemical compounds. The petrification until the formation of stone will take around 4 to 6 weeks. Foodify is unique as it not only creates the calcium carbonate but also other chemical compounds such as magnesium oxide and chloride. This process indicates an improvement in the biomimicry process due to a different source of inspiration. It offers a differentiated granularity compared to existing research. Research companies like Fortera have existing technology (inspired by coral reefs) which captures carbon dioxide gas and dissolves it in water with other compounds to make calcium carbonate only. Foodify will create other chemical compounds while creating calcium carbonate. The created stone can become a source for other chemical compounds and at the same time reduce the pollution caused by landfill. 

We cant really calculate the person we plan to service in the next year but we have calculated the financial plan for our technology until the year of 2027. As our technology has become more mature and our startup has acquire enough resources, we hope we can control the price of the product until most people affordable to buy it.

The business is forecasted to break-even in 2026 after the net loss in 2023 to 2024 (Table 4).

The expenses consist of a few parts, R&D, rental, general and administrative, and lastly marketing, advertising, promotion. The former three items are calculated by a breakdown list. The marketing, advertising, promotion is forecasted to be fixed on 30% of total expenses in the first year. An assumption of 5% annual increase in expenses is also included.

The price of FWC+ is determined by the mark-up method. By reference to the industry data, the concrete price is marked up 45.33%. Using the breakdown formula of mixing a unit of concrete and comparing the industry average cost, 10% of cost can be predicted to be reduced by the economies of scale. FWC+ can replace 40% of cement by food waste in the traditional concrete, and cost US$ 66.63 per m3. The selling price of FWC+ will then be US$ 96.83 per m3. 

The revenue consists of two parts, construction income and material supply. For the construction income, the target goal is to have 1, 3, 6 and 7 cases of 2000m2 with 20 floor projects respectively from 2023 to 2027, which also applied an assumption of using 5% of FWC+ in the construction case. The material supply is forecasted by the market share, aimed to have 0.002% and 0.005% of total market share of the non-residential market in 2026 and 2027, FWC+ can apply 5% in each project that same as the construction assumption.

There are net losses in 2023 and 2024 which are around US$ 222,000, the net earnings in 2025 and 2026 are around US$ 3,682,000. Therefore, 2026 will be the break-even year with around US$ 3.4 million remaining earnings.

Technical, legal and market barrier that may limit our impact in the next year as this material recovery technique has less people doing research on it. We need some time to improve the process become more effective. We also concern on the rules, law or policy that makes our technology hard to be applied in the market . We concern that there is less opportunities for us to achieve our goals next year as nowadays what we noticed is that the IOT, AI and apps have more opportunity but not material recovery technology in Malaysia. As some companies has monopoly the market, we have the concern that we might be lose at the price section in the market.

Until now, we have not partner with any organizations except for my own university. I am now taking this project as my final year project and estimate will get the first result in March or April. After that, we will try to approach Malaysia government and  the potential investor we met in UAITED competition and COINS GRAND Challenge.

Tree.IO adopts a Business to Business (B2B) model and acts as a contractor for non-structured walls and partitions. It is also a supplier of FWC+. At the early stages, the production of FWC+ will be outsourced to reliable concrete manufacturers but Tree.IO will make provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights including the signing of binding business agreements and filing for patents. Thus, the revenue stream will mainly be derived as the income from construction projects and sales of FWC+. Tree.IO does not foresee challenges in collecting food waste from sources including markets. 

Tree.IO Inc will execute its plan in several stages and time frames (Chart 8). In the first year, Tree.IO will focus on research and development procedures to ensure that FWC+ abides by the highest product and regulatory standards. The researchers will rigorously test and examine the strength, porosity, and other dimensions. Refinements will then be made accordingly. For example, the researchers may adjust the ratio of certain components for higher shock resistance. Tree.IO will also become incorporated as a registered business in the construction industry while research is ongoing.

Funding will be sourced from the short to the long term for product development and for accelerated growth of the business. As some of the founders are from academic institutions in Malaysia, FWC+ (and in relation Tree.IO inc) could be commercialized and supported by universities. Initial research grants could be solicited from both public and private sectors which recognize the potential of the business. Subsidies will also be sought from the authorities for the business. Angel investors will also be considered for seed funding of the company,

Since several years are required for patents to be filed in selected geographies including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Tree.IO will apply for business licenses and obtain licenses to operate while concurrently moving ahead with other innovation procedures. SGS and BSEN Test laboratories are identified as potential third-party testing laboratories for Tree.IO to collaborate with. Certification from such laboratories may be required for the business to be authorized for operations and approval for relevant accreditation.

After approximately one year of research and development, the sales and operational processes will then proceed. With a relatively highly competitive rivalry in the industry, it is paramount for Tree.IO to build a credible reputation, network, and reliability. Thus, a stronger brand will be forged through Business To Business Marketing including developing a corporate website, networking with architecture firms, and organizing laboratory or office tours for stakeholders/partners. Tree.IO will also be listed on reliable business listings and directories including Crunchbase. A Google Business Profile will also be created so that Tree.IO will be more visible on the search engine. Paid Advertising may be further considered.

To enhance the online and offline presence, search engine optimization measures will be implemented. Furthermore, social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram will be established. Content on construction-related topics will be rolled out on the platforms. Tree.IO will also attend built environment trade shows to spread awareness of the business and FWC+ as a novel product. Tree.IO’s vision “To rethink, recycle and maximize the value of food waste through the production of green concrete” will also be communicated across various touchpoints. Through such marketing measures, Tree.IO is able to tell its own story and establish itself as a trustworthy and reliable party in the construction industry. Tree.IO also seeks to become associated with innovation and quality.

Brand and marketing measures will help to ease the direct selling process. The direct selling process involves steps like lead generation, business development, cold calling, desktop research, bidding for tenders, etc. For operations, Tree.IO will lease facilities or outsource its productions to third-party concrete manufacturing companies.  In the long term, as operations are scaled, in-house manufacturing capacity (factories) for Tree.IO may be built and strategic partnerships could be forged. In the earlier stages, employees of the business will likely adopt more administrative, architectural, or research-related job scopes.