The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently honored the Irvine campus of the University of California for achieving zero waste status and their enhancement s with food recovery. The college’s waste management program diverts over eighty three percent percent of generated waste by re-using, recycling, and composting. The campus has also increased the diversion of food waste from ninety tons to five hundred tons. Campus administrators cite involvement in the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge as a major asset in attaining their waste and recycling goals.
The attainment of these recycling goals was a collaborative effort between the school’s Facilities Management department, Orange County Waste Management and Aramark Dining Services, which is the food service provider for the campus. Food waste was specially collected in campus dining halls and cafeterias and then transported to Waste Managements organics recycling facility where it is used for a variety of environmentally-friendly applications including the generation of green energy.
Throughout the United States, over thirty five million tons of food waste is sent to landfills every year. As this organic waste decomposes, it becomes a source of the potent greenhouse gas methane. Serious attention has recently turned to methane emissions reduction as a way to calm global warming. Luckily, reducing the amount of food scraps and organic waste material disposed of through traditional methods by an increased effort to donate edible food, compost, and use organic matter for energy generation is helping businesses to cut back both their disposal costs and their carbon footprint.
WasteCare Wants You to Remember: If your business generates a significant amount of food scraps, food waste, and organic matter each month, it may be worth your time to investigate recycling and reuse options. Can you donate food to a local shelter or food pantry? Are there farms nearby that would like scraps for animal feed or composting? Does your state or county offer any programs to help convert food to energy? Participating in any of these may help to reduce your disposal costs and give your business some good publicity!