As Malaysia’s first Green Mall, 1 Utama has always been the pioneering force behind many environmental and sustainable initiatives since 2005. Consistently setting new standards, 1 Utama is now revolutionizing urban waste with the introduction of W.I.S.E. With Food Programme (Waste Innovation for Sustainability and the Environment) programme to demonstrate its commitment to conservation efforts. W.I.S.E.is the largest on-site food waste management system to be introduced in a Malaysian mall where food waste from 180 F&B tenants is transformed into high grade organic fertilizers for a meaningful and holistic ‘table to farm’ approach.

Commented 1 Utama’s Director, Tan Sri Dato’ Teo Chiang Kok during the media launch of W.I.S.E., “While other malls may be also managing their food waste. most are done off-site and on a much smaller scale. We have differentiated ourselves by installing the largest 2-tonne capacity machine built in 1 Utama itself to rescue food waste and by also having the largest joint partnership with 180 F&B outlets. This zero waste ecosystem offers an efficient and socially responsible solution of collecting up to 4,000kg of food waste daily to be processed into 100% organic fertilizer used for gardening and landscaping throughout 1 Utama and Bandar Utama, as well as to distribute to farmers and making the fertilizers available to our shoppers soon. We have also constructed a 750 sq. ft. experiential showcase including a gallery for shoppers to watch the entire recycling process live.”

Each day at 1 Utama, F&B tenants separate food waste at their premises daily. Depending on the tenant’s operational size, each tenant is provided with a W.I.S.E. food waste bin. 20L bins are given out to kiosk and medium-sized outlets and 120L bins to supermarkets and large-sized restaurants.

In order for the W.I.S.E. recycling machine to process food waste into organic fertilizer, the waste must first be properly segregated at source by tenants. Only solid food waste is accepted e.g. fish, meat, bones, vegetables, bread, pastries, cheese, rice grains and any leftovers in dry form. Waste that is unsuitable are non-solid wet waste like sauces, soup, curries and foreign objects like plastic, metal, paper, glass etc. – all these will need to be sorted and removed from the food waste before being deposited into the machine for recycling.

Each tenant is also allocated a Food Waste Monitoring Smart Card to  track their daily waste disposal activities. By tapping the smart card to a reader located in the W.I.S.E. recycling room when weighing in their bins, tenants are able to track the amount of food waste they dispose by weight. Data collected through the smart card is then available in a monthly report provided free to tenants so that they can conduct their own analysis on wastages, operations and control food cost.

Unlike conventional waste conversion efforts, 1 Utama has strategically chosen to process its food waste into 100% organic fertilizer because it has a higher value and is more beneficial for planting, vegetation and landscaping purposes.