[Rediscovering Eumsseu] ① 1.3 Billion Tons of Discarded Food Annually... Blooming into Flowers of Hope

Domestic Food Waste 18,000 Tons Daily
30% of Global Agricultural Produce Discarded
Global Warming...Focus on Food Upcycling Solutions

A small town called Bjæverskov, located an hour's drive from Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The production plant of 'Aggrain' was piled high with dark raw materials that looked like heaps of soil. Aggrain, operated by the Danish food upcycling startup Circula Food Technology, transforms 'brewer's grains'?the residue from the brewing process of over 150 types of beer?into grain flour and sells it.

"Please try it once."

A worker at the Aggrain factory in Bieberskov, Denmark, is shoveling spent grain, a food upcycling material. Photo by Eunmo Koo gooeunmo@

To turn the moisture-laden brewer's grains into flour, three steps are required: pressing → drying → grinding. When the brewer's grains were pressed in a screw press in the first step, water began to drip from one side. Jesper Clement, the general manager of Circula Food Technology, who was watching this, smiled faintly and encouraged the reporter to taste the pressed water.

At first, hesitation arose because the murky appearance seemed like wastewater that would naturally be treated as such. After some hesitation, the pressed water tasted pleasantly grainy, exceeding expectations. This was the moment when the prejudice that food by-products are unhygienic was broken. Liemann-Andersen, CEO of Circula Food Technology, said, "Producing one ton of regular flour requires 9 liters of water, but we produced grain flour from brewer's grains that would have been discarded without using a single drop of water." He added, "In a world where the climate is changing, resources are depleting, and hundreds of millions of people face high levels of food insecurity daily, food upcycling is not a choice but a necessity."

Agreen factory in Bieoverskov, Denmark. Using a press, spent grain is separated into pressed water and moisture-removed spent grain. Photo by Eunmo Koo gooeunmo@

Daily Food Waste in Korea Reaches 18,000 Tons... 30% of Global Agricultural Production Discarded

In Korea, 17,805 tons of food waste are generated daily. This amount is enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (50m long, 25m wide, 2m high, 2,500㎥) seven times over. Annually, this totals 6,498,825 tons. Based on Korea's population of 51.63 million, this equates to 126 kg of food waste per person, which is equivalent to 500 apples weighing 250g each.

Korea has gained international recognition as an advanced country in separate food waste disposal, but policies to reduce food loss and waste remain insufficient. According to an investigation and analysis by Asia Economy of the Ministry of Environment's 'National Waste Generation and Treatment Status,' domestic food waste increased by 10.3%, from 16,145 tons per day in 2012 to 17,805 tons per day in 2022. This includes separately collected waste from households, restaurants, large marts, and cafeterias, as well as animal and plant residues from food manufacturing and mixed waste disposed of in volume-based waste bags. Although food waste peaked at 21,065 tons in 2019 and decreased for three consecutive years, it has increased compared to ten years ago despite various government reduction efforts.

Food waste is a global issue, not just a problem in Korea. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1.3 billion tons of agricultural products are discarded worldwide each year, accounting for 31% of total production.

Food Waste, a Boomerang for Global Warming... Food Upcycling Emerges as a Solution

Food waste does not simply mean the loss of time, effort, money, and energy used in production. During disposal, it generates wastewater and greenhouse gases, which come back as a boomerang, accounting for 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This figure does not even include greenhouse gases produced during the production and transportation of discarded food. For this reason, food upcycling, which minimizes food waste, has emerged as the best solution to climate change in the US, Europe, Japan, and other regions.

Food upcycling refers to the concept of creating new products from by-products generated during food production or ingredients whose market value has dropped due to appearance issues, like Aggrain. The simple concept of consuming imperfect agricultural products is also included in food upcycling. Through food upcycling, food that would have been burned in incinerators or buried in landfills gains new life.

Market research firm Allied Market Research forecasts that the food upcycling market will expand from $53.7 billion (about 71.29 trillion KRW) in 2021 to $97 billion (about 128.8 trillion KRW) by 2031. Dr. Joomun Sol from the Korea Environment Institute pointed out, "Until now, domestic policies related to food waste have been operated from the perspective of separate collection and stable treatment after generation, but going forward, a shift to methods that induce reduction before generation is necessary."

※ This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund, funded by government advertising fees.