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Commercial Food Waste Compost Pilot program
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Now that restaurants are successfully recycling cardboard, glass, cans, and grease, many restaurant owners are looking at ways to keep kitchen trimmings and table scraps out the of the county dump. And the answer may be in compost. "Food waste is the last frontier for us in recycling," said Bruce Reiszenman, executive chef and owner of Park Avenue Catering in Santa Rosa.
It's estimated that food wastes account for 50 percent of the material a restaurant dumps in the garbage bin. The goal of the food waste compost pilot program, conducted by University of California Cooperative Extension, was to divert this food waste from the landfill by encouraging individual food businesses to operate an in-vessel composter at their site. In 1997, in-vessel Green Mountain Technology's "Comp-Tainer" was used to compost food wastes from the 4H Chicken BBQ 97 & 98, Mistral Restaurant, the SRJC cafeteria, and Food For Thought grocery store. The machine's high heat and aerobic action turns kitchen waste into compost in a few days. A blower pushes the exhaust gases through a biofilter to remove odors. Liquids collected can be recycled back into the composter.
| The pilot program showed some promising results:
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The composter could pay for itself in lower trash hauling fees in about three years.
| Contact us at eco-desk@recyclenow.org | ||||||