VRM completes the cycle from waste to food

Singapore

ONE man's trash is another man's treasure. This rings true for VRM BioLogik, which turns organic waste into quality soil enhancers. But VRM is not your average recycling company. Its name alone, which stands for vital resource management, hints at the company's larger aim of producing safe food.

VRM provides patented formulations which contain a combination of microbes, enzymes and bacteria that break down waste, fight germs and promote soil health. The company has put a value to waste - it should not be disregarded, said group chief executive officer, Terence Tan. "We're cleaning the earth up, we're going to help everybody attain a zero-waste standard."

VRM's army of microbes helps achieve this. These microbes survive on organic waste and each other's by-products, forming an ecosystem. Besides completely digesting waste, they give end products their soil-enhancing properties. The microbes sequestrate carbon, and releases locked up nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil. They are also able to produce sugar and water, serving as another source of water for plants and animals. In Mr Tan's words, these microbes are "the ha…