10. We Need Champions!
Food Waste: Huge Problem & Opportunity
Take the Food Recovery Challenge and
together – let’s take a bite out of food waste!
Participating organizations can receive
national recognition for their outstanding Challenge
achievements & leadership
www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge
Join Us!
11. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Step #1 and #2 = Biggest Bang for Your Buck
• Step #1: Source Reduction - reducing waste at the “source”
• Reducing over-buying & processing wastes
• Reducing over preps & plate waste
• Make the most of the product you purchased
• Step #2: Feed Hungry People
• Donating wholesome food, supplies and prepared foods to food
banks, rescues, pantries, and kitchens
• Liability protection & tax deductions
• Step #3: Recycle (compost)
• Sending off to an existing composter or composting on-site
13. Re-TRAC thru WasteWise
What WasteWise Re-TRAC does:
• Compiles and analyzes your waste
management data and maintains historical files.
• Submits your annual data to the WasteWise
program with a click.
• Generates instant reports on program
performance and trends, and calculates GHG
emission reductions associated with your
activities.
• Provides your official EPA Climate Profile
report on an annual basis.
"The new Re-TRAC system is beyond fabulous. It really
improves the data entering experience. Thank you, thank
you, thank you!!!!" - Mariah Titlow Tinger, Senior
Environmental Program Coordinator, Genzyme Corporation
14. Food Recovery Challenge
Four Easy Steps!
1. Assess It! Conduct baseline food waste assessment
w/in first 60 days of joining
2. Commit to It! Set a three year goal with a
commitment to increase food reduction/diversion by
5% in the first year.
3. Do It! Undertake food waste reduction and recovery
activities to meet your goals!
4. Track It! Report annually using ReTRAC
16. Food Scrap Recycling Primer
Understanding Large-Scale Food Scrap Recycling Technologies for
Urban Areas
Why did we do this
For whom is the audience
When will it be available
What it includes
17. Food Scrap Recycling Primer
Key Considerations
Quality of Life
Land Area
Environmental Concerns
Economics
Regulatory Requirements
18. Food Scrap Recycling Primer
Understanding the basics:
Anaerobic Digestion
Windrows Composting
In-vessel Composting
I’ve been asked to talk about three things:Update on EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program Food Recovery Challenge Food Scrap Recycling Primer
Sustainable Materials Management Program – Rethinking about waste is looking at a lifecycle approach; Looking upstream. I will also spend a few minutes talking about additional work we’ve been doing to remove organics from the waste streamWe’re working on SMM focusing on Using WasteWise as a tool there are 3 Challenge Programs Food Recovery ChallengeElectronic ChallengeZero Waste Community Pilot ProgramFederal Green Challenge
Conserves resources - Recovers valuable materials like gold, silver, and copper - Reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining new products and encouraging the purchase of energy star equipment – which uses less energyDecreases the amount of electronics going into landfillsEncourage use of certified recyclers – pledges
National effort – Region 1 has more than 25 facilities participating in the programAll the projects are converted to ghg emissions reduced
Zero Waste Communities Pilot Project t Measurement using WARM model translate waste reduction into ghg emissions avoided
Reducing greenhouse gases from food waste – focusing upstream on source reductionUses Waste Wise and EPA’s WARM model to translate into ghg emission reductionSectors include: Colleges/Universities, Venues (sporting arenas) and Supermarkets
33.44 Million Tons Disposed 66,880,000,000 pounds (that’s billions of pounds)
Americans waste enough food to fill the “Rose Bowl” every day. (Bloom 2007)or Gillette Stadium - 44% of the food produced and imported in the US ends up in the landfill or compost pile. Food waste is now the single largest component of the municipal solid waste stream. NOTE: This estimate is from Jonathan Bloom’s book American Wasteland. It’s based on a volumetric calculation for the rosebowl capacity using EPA data on the amount of food waste disposal annually.
Waste reduction plan must include 1 source reduction activity, 1 donation activity and 1 other activity (like composting or sending waste to an anaerobic digester)
Waste reduction plan must include 1 source reduction activity, 1 donation activity and 1 other activity (like composting or sending waste to an anaerobic digester)
I’ll explain these – but give you a little bit about what’s going to be in this document.Why did we do this – IWG project to support two communities who were both wrestling with the issue of increasing composting/ anaerobic digestion in urban areas It seemed that these communities had similar questions and didn’t know where to find information – what information they needed to considerIt’s almost done – it will take a while to get on line – please let me know if you’re interested in receiving a copy
Key Considerations –That communities; town officials may would want to think about when they hear about food recycling/composting
