No one likes it when food goes to waste: be it on the manufacturing side due to stoppages and recalls, or on the receiving side of grocers due to sudden wastage or mass expiration. Not only do these food waste emergencies affect the bottom line of your business, they also create a large amount of food loss to deal with. Today, we at Agri-Cycle want to outline the one-time and continuing services we offer for both existing and new clients in these scenarios, as well as how we can help put this food back to work and keep it out of the landfill.
Types of Food Waste Emergencies
Anytime you have a lot of product bound for the trash, that’s an emergency. Although every food waste emergency situation is unique, below are some of the common ways they can happen:
- Spoiling & Sudden Wastage: Such as food spoiling due to a grocery store’s walk-in fridge dying overnight.
- Contamination: A food producer’s product being tainted by foreign contaminants, rendering it unfit.
- Expirations: Products on the shelves that aren’t sold in time, especially produce or meat.
- Recalls: Product recalls from either the manufacturer or grocer level.
Note that depending on the reasons behind the contamination or recall, Agri-Cycle may not be able to accept it for anaerobic digestion—we have to look out for our bacteria and cows!
A Food Waste Container for Every Solution
The solution you need all depends on scale and volume. For smaller scale issues or for food waste emergencies over a longer period (such as recalls), we offer our normal tote bins, perfect for one-person use. For larger projects, we also have pallet boxes and open-top dumpsters for use. Learn more about all these options in our blog, Food Waste Containers: How We Collect & Manage Food Waste.
Bringing in the Big Trucks: Roll-Offs & More
Of course, Agri-Cycle also has a fleet of trucks up and down the East Coast to solve big problems when it comes to food waste emergencies. Roll-off trucks mean not only can food waste be shifted by the cargo container, but these containers can be quickly swapped out. More specialty vehicles, such as tanker trucks, long trailers, and live loads are available alongside our regular fleet of collection trucks.
Our Depackager for Packaged Food Waste
Now, much of this food waste is going to have a major obstacle: packaging. However, we’ve got the solution with our depackager machine! This machine takes in packaged foods—including cans, plastics, and papers—and separates out the food waste from the packaging with a series of paddles that break open packaged food and a series of screens to catch both food and packaging. This solution is perfect for large-scale emergencies or if you simply don’t have the person-power to separate out food waste from packaging on site.
At Agri-Cycle, we have a solution for every emergency (and non-emergency) when it comes to food waste. Our goal is to bring food full circle, turning your food waste away from the trash and into renewable energy and products. Not only can we help with emergencies, but we can also help you figure out best practices and higher-user options for your food waste—emergency and otherwise. Contact us today to get started, or call us at 1-800-850-9560.