Shih states that FETC, founded in 1999, originally planned to establish a dedicated pig-farming area on one of Taiwan's outlying islands, raising pigs as a way to consume kitchen waste, and then using pig excreta to produce compost. Later, due to opposition from the pig-farming industry, FETC changed tack and developed an approach for producing compost directly from kitchen waste.
施重德表示，民國八十八年成立的台朔環保公司，原先計畫設立離島養豬專業區，以養豬來消化廚餘，再以豬隻排泄物來製作堆肥，後來因為養豬業反彈而改弦易轍，發展堆肥。