Organic Farm

Every day, 25,000 to 30,000 tons of waste is generated in Malaysia. Over 90% of it is not recycled. Of that, 45-60% is organic waste. 

 

That means that an average of around 15,000 tons of organic waste go wastefully (and harmfully) to landfills every day. That’s the weight of 15,000 cars, or 7,500 elephants, per day! 

 

That’s just the official stuff. Near our farm, illegal dumping continues every day. Painfully, we watch truck after truck of waste drive past us looking to unload at the next quiet valley, many of which hold the scarce biodiversity remaining in our city.

 

FOLO dreams that one day, all of this organic waste can be transformed to produce microbes-rich compost so effectively that we can heal our precious land, grow healthy food and drive chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides out of Malaysia. It will take a public-private-community movement to make this happen. 

 

Right now, we are acting on this dream in Johor Bahru, by aiming to collecting 1 elephant (around 2 tonnes) of kitchen waste every day to make compost for our veggies. We drive our own FOLO truck, provide our own FOLO bins, and work with like-minded partners who separate their waste including our own homes, restaurants, food businesses and hotels. We take all these to our own FOLO composting centre, carry out our own aerobic composting, wash all the bins and return them to our partners. 

 

The work is quite unglamorous and time consuming. We also need to continually educate, communicate and build trust with partners to separate their waste effectively. At such a small scale (1 elephant per day), it is also more expensive than purchasing other compost and fertilisers in the market. 

 

But why are we doing it?

 

1) We do it for our kids. We want to leave a Johor Bahru and Singapore that is better and cooler for them. We want to show them that they do not have to run anywhere to find meaning.

 

2) We do it for our veggies and the health of our loved ones. Processed in the right way, kitchen waste can be transformed into not only compost, but one of the best, most nutritious and microbes-rich compost for the farm environment and the vegetables that grow from it. Collectively, we believe – and science is increasingly showing – that physical exposure to our farm and sustained consumption of our vegetables can nourish and heal us.

 

3) We do it because it is the right thing to do. Transforming waste to something of value to society makes social, environmental and business sense. Other countries are doing it at a national level. But we are mindful that building the momentum requires institutional and cultural change, which in turn require commitment and venture philanthropy. To get to where we are today, we are grateful that the FOLO community of friends and supporters have donated land, machinery, time, money and networks. 

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