We’re always excited when we show up in the news, highlighted by one of our business partners as a critical part of their business. This time, a newsletter from America’s Test Kitchen caught our eye with a focus on what they are doing to be a greener and more sustainable business. Let’s not only go over what they said but the systems and staff behind what Agri-Cycle does for America’s Test Kitchen and many others up and down the east coast.
ATK Article: How We Combat Food Waste in the Test Kitchen
In a recent America’s Test Kitchen newsletter, we were pleasantly surprised to be mentioned in their article “How We Combat Food Waste in the Test Kitchen,” taking pride of place in their first method to combating food waste as part of office-wide composting:
“We’ve been composting in the test kitchen since January of 2019. Currently, we work with Agri-Cycle, a Maine-based food-waste collection service that breaks down the organic matter with enzymes and converts it into renewable energy. The by-products of this process are used for fertilizer and animal bedding at their partner dairy farm. (See an illustration of the full, fascinating cycle.)
In addition to all of the scraps, bones, and shells we compost instead of trash, we’re allowed “dirty” compost, which includes paper refuse like napkins and paper towels. All of the containers our test cooks use for mise en place, as well as the plates and cups we use for tastings, also go into the compost.”
How Agri-Cycle Helps Businesses Recycle Food Waste
America’s Test Kitchen had several initiatives to go over, and therefore only scraped the surface of the entire process here at Agri-Cycles. Let’s go over all of it with more detail and plenty of additional reading:
1. Business Staff Collect Food Waste
It all starts with the business’s workers! We work with businesses to assess their needs and provide them with toter bins (and sometimes larger containers) so they can separate out food waste from other products. A lot of things (even food-filled containers) can go into these bins!
2. The Agri-Cycle Truck Fleets Arrives
We have a large fleet of trucks for every client need, from compacting collection trucks for normal toter containers, to roll-off and long trailer trucks for one-time and emergency surges, and even liquid waste with our tanker trucks. The collected food waste is taken to our AD facilities.
3. Our Anaerobic Digestor Facilities
It’s with anaerobic digestion (AD) that the magic happens. At our facilities, the food waste is processed with cow manure (more on them below), and the resulting slurry is fed into sealed containers with our bacteria. The bacteria eats the slurry and produce biogas and digestate. The biogas is converted to power, and the digestate…
4. Our Cows Close the Loop
…is used as bedding and crop fertilizer for our cows! Agri-Cycle got started partnering with Stonyvale Farm, a 5th generation dairy farm in Exeter, Maine, and Exeter Agri-Energy (EAE). We now work with many processing partners on the Eastern Seaboard, but it all started with those cows, which help close the loop, turning fertilized crops back into cow manure to start the cycle again.
We’re tickled pink that America’s Test Kitchen decided to talk about us and we’re proud to be part of a more sustainable future for many businesses. Do you want help making your business (or local municipality) more sustainable, reducing the amount of food waste you’re contributing to landfills, and saving money in the process? Contact Agri-Cycle to take your food full cycle by getting a quote or calling us at 1-800-850-9560.