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While residential composting programs are being implemented in many towns and cities across the United States, more and more businesses, schools, and other large institutions are evaluating food waste composting throughout their facilities. increase. Some organizations have joined immediately, others are still evaluating the benefits.
Take the University of Richmond, for example. For years, the University of Richmond had a composting program in its eateries, but it was happening behind the scenes. has accelerated the transition to collecting
“We will be joining immediately and moving from no used compost collection in October 2020, to collection of used compost in outdoor seating areas in dining halls in November 2020, to all food and beverage outlets in February 2021. We have moved to post-consumer composting at the University of Richmond,” said David Donaldson, Waste Rethink Manager at the University of Richmond University Facilities.
In October 2021, the University’s Waste Reimagined transitioned from a committee focused on waste diversion with an emphasis on composting to university facilities and storage and management responsible for all aspects of on-campus waste management. Moved to established entities within environment services. This change allowed the school to integrate the operational aspects of waste management with the educational and programmatic aspects of waste management on campus. The university’s composting program also involves the involvement of many peers. They have a student staff of 19 who regularly go out to the on-campus cafeteria to catch up with the unit manager.
“In the spring of 2022, our cafeteria introduced a process in the pantry that resulted in the composting of all food scraps, napkins, compostable plates, etc. Anything else, Waste brought in, ice cream wrappers, etc. is minimized and pulled out and put into collection bins at landfills,” says Donaldson.
In September 2022, the university launched a pilot residential composting program. They gave students who lived in apartments on campus the opportunity to participate. With a pilot limit of 40 apartments, the university provided each apartment with a countertop compost bin and placed larger collection bins in the bin enclosure.
“Students who participated were responsible for transporting organic waste from their apartments to collection bins outside the building,” said Donaldson. We will either ask them to continue or double the number of participants.”
Organic waste is not intended to decompose in an anaerobic environment and releases more methane and other GHGs as it decomposes in landfills. For the University of Richmond, composting offers significant educational benefits.
“Not only are we educating our students on the fact that they don’t have to take their waste to landfills, they are also showing potential future employment opportunities and showing them a healthier way to live for the planet and themselves. Giving them the skills and information they can take with them when they travel the world or go home for the summer,” Donaldson said. We have a goal to divert 75% of the waste generated on campus from landfills, and for us to reach our ambitious goal, composting will need to be a major part of our diversion efforts. ”
an uphill battle
According to Stacy Savage, founder and chief executive officer of Zero Waste Strategies LLC, food waste accounts for about 30 to 40 percent of all material streams in the United States, and many local governments encourage residents to provide street compost. We provide conversion services. Food waste from companies that contribute the most to that total percentage.
From Savage’s experience, many food permitting companies do not consider diverting food waste from landfills as part of their materials management system. It does not take into account cost savings from reduced material in landfill bins. I can do it. This can offset the cost of new compost collection services and employee education needs.
Savage noted that theme parks and sports stadiums have received a lot of press for large-scale events produced with material diversion as a primary focus.
“Corporate composting programs are more effective in locations with state-issued food permits and back-of-house (BOH) food preparation stations, such as employee cafeterias, on-campus catering services, hospitals, and entertainment venues.” said Savage. He said. “Her BOH employees who are licensed to properly dispose of food can also easily be trained to properly dispose of food waste if they have access to a composting program.”
A common problem Savage sees in companies is when it comes to providing front-of-house (FOH) food waste composting systems for office workers. Especially if your employees are not properly trained in the correct use of food waste containers or if they bring in food. From outside restaurants that offer non-compostable packaging and utensils.
“Cross-contamination can be very costly. As an example, one of my business clients had a BOH and FOH composting program. “FOH food waste streams included single-use plastics such as sandwich wraps, cutlery, cups and straws, and take-out condiment packages. , lidded sauce cups, etc. The food waste hauler charged my client a minimum fee of $2,700 a month ($32,400 a year) for these problems. This is because our employees had to screen and sort out the contaminants so that the compost soil could be treated as a clean product and sold to our clients.”
To offset this type of problem, Savage recommends that materials management companies handling recycling and composting operations provide training to their client’s employees. This can be done through scheduled face-to-face meetings, educational resources and handouts, or video training portals.
Also, that the client’s internal and external bins are appropriately color-coded and located for easy access, consistent/better signage using a bilingual format (usually English/Spanish), and each You can also ensure graphics showing what is and isn’t allowed in . Place.
“They should be ready to renegotiate contracts with established clients looking to reduce landfill waste by incorporating new systems for food waste diversion through composting. Landfill contracts will need to be ‘right sized’ when these new services are launched,” Savage said. “And we need to become a distribution affiliate of other companies that provide compostable bin liners and food products, such as biodegradable food and beverage containers, cutlery. is compatible with their own composting process and can reduce pollution charges to our business clients.”
Future prospects
Recycling organic matter is not difficult, but it does come with challenges. As Vinnie Bevivino, Senior Director of Organics at Bioenergy Devco, explained, it takes more time and effort to separate organics from the rest of the waste, so it’s often easier to throw it all away. But to meet this challenge, Bioenergy Devco employed depackaging technology to separate plastic and other packaging from food waste at their composting site.
“We have a certain amount of packaging tolerance and we mechanically remove food waste before it is recycled. , you don’t have to pay close attention to sorting,” says Bevivino. “Another challenge for him is finding a capacity organic recycling facility. More and more composting and anaerobic digestion plants are being planned and built.”
Bevivino further said the industry is moving away from the “build it, they will come” mentality that has driven most of the development of organic recycling facilities to date, toward long-term partnerships between organic waste generators and recyclers. pointed out that they are moving to facilities developed based on .
“This provides recyclers with stable and predictable waste disposal for facility financing and operations, while waste generators get dedicated recycling capacity and long-term waste disposal prices. You can,” said Bevivino.
Challenges aside, the good news, according to Savage, is that reducing waste is the easiest outcome of operational efficiency to achieve the greatest opportunity for cost savings. Workers and consumers now expect companies to deliver higher standards of sustainability. Internal recycling and composting are two important solutions he could introduce.
For example, Zero Waste Strategies served a Catholic convent in Houston through a waste audit. Residents were upset that the parish administration office chose to use single-use plastic and foam trays for all monastery meals. They said the activity was short-sighted and prevented them from fulfilling their sacred vows to protect the planet.
“Sisters worked with us to remove food waste, recyclable items, and single-use components that could have been diverted had proper programs been in place, or simply avoided altogether. “The findings were so shocking that they were presented to the Archbishop for distribution to educate other dioceses throughout Texas.”
Donaldson believes that over time, collecting used compost will become part of the way we do things. The closer we get to creating a no-waste environment, the better and easier our program, or our consumer composting program, will be,” he said. “The easier it is to collect and dispose of the compost, the more successful these programs will be.”
January 2023 issue published
