With the passing of AB 1826, some California companies will be required to arrange for collection of their organic waste materials such as food and landscaping waste. However, smaller companies that do not fall under this mandate, and who are looking to become more sustainable in their operations, are initiating their own organics diversion program.
When was the last time you threw away some food, whether it was leftovers from a restaurant, some produce you couldn’t eat fast enough before it turned, or that bag of who-knows-what you just rediscovered in your fridge? If you’re like most people, you’re buying more than $550 of food a year that you end up not eating. You can stop wasting money on food you won’t eat this holiday season by developing new perspectives, habits and networks, and these shifts start by understanding why food waste happens.
A recent New York Times Op-Ed confronted the economics of recycling, asserting that in spite of significant government and media efforts to extol the virtues of recycling, it basically doesn’t make much sense, neither economically nor environmentally. So why even attempt to recycle or compost at all? Let’s just get rid of those blue and green bins altogether.
If you’re a business who deals with food at just about any level — even if it’s just leftovers from the office lunch room — how to best manage food waste is probably at least edging onto your radar. For organizations in the hospitality, food service, or food & beverage manufacturing industries that have committed to a sustainability agenda, food waste is certainly moving front and center. Here’s what your business can do to better manage food waste.
For many years, I have had to opportunity to work with school districts on a variety of waste reduction and recycling projects. Together, we have calculated the cost of purchasing recycled-content paper, figured out cost saving by using a chipper to process tree trimmings and how to set up classroom and cafeteria recycling/food scrap collection programs. School districts are creative and innovative institutions but can also implement projects that create unintended consequences.
