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The following case studies describe how businesses have reduced their food waste. Visit food in waste less at agencies & schools for additional tips on how to prevent food waste.
Cutting carting costs through composting The Fruitstand, a small produce outlet located in lower Manhattan, generates a waste stream consisting primarily of spoiled fruits and vegetables and cardboard. A rise in carting fees, as well as odor problems due to inconsistent service from their carter, motivated the company to look for disposal alternatives. The Fruitstand’s organic waste is now collected and composted by Outstanding Renewal Enterprises, Inc. (ORE), a licensed waste hauler and operator of an in-vessel compost system in Manhattan. For composting purposes, all organic materials should be free of packaging (such as plastic bags around bananas, etc.). To help with this effort, ORE trained the Fruitstand’s staff on proper organics segregation. Although providing a clean, organic waste stream requires extra work, the Fruitstand has found it to be worth the effort. On average, ORE collects 2.4 tons or 4,800 pounds (the equivalent of roughly 5 cubic yards) of source-separated organic waste from The Fruitstand every month. The collection cost is slightly less than what the company paid previously for disposal, and their organic waste is now collected daily, Monday through Saturday. A different carter collects The Fruitstand’s cardboard. Source: Conversation with Outstanding Renewal Enterprises, Inc., Summer 2003 Food vendors work jointly to compost and cut costs The President of the Korean American Small Business Service Center of New York (KASBSC) approached the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) with concern for his many members who own food and flower markets. Commercial waste haulers, due to a Business Integrity Commission policy change, now have the option to charge NYC commercial tenants by the pound ($8 per 100 pounds or $160 per ton) or by the standard cubic-yard measure ($12.20 per cubic yard). For tenants with wet, heavy waste, such as the KASBSC-member food establishments, this could potentially result in a doubling of their waste disposal bills. DSNY put KASBSC in touch with an outdoor windrow composting operation, run by Eastern Organic Resources in Wrightstown, NJ, which was interested in receiving more source-separated, organic waste. Now 250 KASBSC members are working with the Canal Carting Company to haul an average of 60 tons per week of their source-separated food and flower waste to the composting facility. Rather than seeing their rates go up under the new commercial hauling arrangement, as they had feared, these establishments have actually lowered their waste disposal bills by 15 to 20 percent. Source: Conversation with Compost Unit staff at DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling and Korean American Small Business Service Center, October 2003 Large-scale composting efforts at Hunts Point Terminal Market The Hunts Point Terminal Market (the Market), located within the approximately 126-acre Food Distribution Center in the Hunts Point area of the Bronx, is one of the largest produce markets in the world. It is home to over 50 fruit and vegetable wholesalers, who manage their operations as separate entities within the Market. The Market itself is run as a cooperative, owned and operated by the wholesalers, who make deliveries to customers, as well as sell directly from the Market. The Market’s primary customers are grocery-store owners, restaurant suppliers and operators, and other wholesale and retail produce vendors. The Market, an NYC WasteLe$$ Business Project partner, generates a large quantity of produce and wood waste. The City of New York is responsible for a significant portion of the Market’s waste disposal costs. In an attempt to lower disposal costs, the Market established the following composting and wood-pallet reuse programs. COMPOSTING ACTIVITIES In 1997, the Market’s waste carter, in conjunction with the Association for Resource Conservation, began hauling truckloads of source-separated produce to farms on Long Island for composting. With the assistance of their current carter, Circle Rubbish, the Market continues to source-separate primarily organic loads of waste and re-direct them to either an in-vessel composting facility outside of Albany, NY, or an outdoor windrow facility in Wrightstown, NJ. The Market’s composting efforts divert an average of 840 tons of food waste per month. WOOD PALLET REUSE Approximately 40 percent (40 tons per day) of the Market’s waste stream is composed of wood from pallets and wood packaging. Vendors who supply the fruit and vegetable wholesalers now take back wood pallets that can be reused. Broken pallets in repairable condition are collected and refurbished by an on-site, pallet repair company and then resold to vendors in the market. Unrepairable pallets, which are few in number, are composted along with food waste and become mulch. Source: NYC WasteLe$$ Business Project findings and summer 2003 conversations with Hunts Point Terminal Market staff and Compost Unit staff at the DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling. Penzim Produce, a large wholesale and retail fruit and vegetable distributor located in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was generating approximately 2,370 tons of landfill waste per year and spending over $16,000 per month to have the waste removed. Before each refuse collection, the rotting produce emitted foul odors, especially during warmer months. In conjunction with NewYork WasteMatch and Earth Conserve Management Consultants, the produce company is installing dewatering machinery that reduces the volume of organic material from approximately 8 to 10 cubic yards a day to 1.5 to 2 cubic yards a day. Through use of the dewatering machinery, Penzim expects to reduce its waste stream by 480 tons per year and save about $17,000 a year in waste removal and disposal costs. Source: Conversation with New York WasteMatch staff, Spring 2003
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Food Waste Case Studies
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