Do you want to get food waste out of your business’s garbage and wastewater? There can be many reasons – a requirement from a local business program, a state food waste ban, or a wish for your business to not contribute to the massive 40% of municipal solid waste that is food waste. Regardless of your company’s specific reasons, it’s important to understand how a food waste collection service can help both your business and the environment in terms of sustainability, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and recycling food waste.
The Importance of Food Waste in Sustainability
A key part of sustainability often overlooked in companies isn’t what green initiatives go into your products but how you’re managing the waste you produce. For businesses dealing with food waste, getting it out of landfills serves two purposes, recycling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts at the dump and wastewater treatment plants.
At Agri-Cycle, we take it one step further as a waste management solution partnering with anaerobic digesters and composters (including Stonyvale Farm and Exeter Agri-Energy) to keep methane and other gasses out of the atmosphere and recycle the food waste into renewable energy, fertilizer, and other beneficial products.
What are the Types of Food Waste Collection?
With the above ideas in mind, how does this work as a practical application in your business? Generally speaking, these kinds of services fall into three broad categories:
- Toter Service: Utilizing dedicated toters bins to fill with food waste. Clients put their provided toters outside to be collected on their service day. Service days vary based on frequency, space, and materials.
- Liquid Food Waste Services: Liquids that might otherwise hit the wastewater system, including waste products from breweries, dairy, and food grease from restaurants.
- One-Off and Emergencies: A catch-all for sudden amounts of food waste such as product recalls, grocer mass loss, or even transportation or distribution issues. Typically done with an open-top dumpster or a “roll-off” container.
Industries That Need a Food Waste Collection Service
Any business or community that generates food waste can use our services – and some industries might surprise you! Restaurants can include both solid food waste and grease traps. Every department in a grocery store can include packaged food (we have NE’s first de-packaging machine) or clean SSO. Brewers and dairies can take advantage of high-volume liquid transportation and disposal. Hospitals, universities, and anywhere else with a cafeteria can use these services. Even communities without municipal food disposal services can be services via residential drop-off points. You can learn more about the industries on our services page and more about current clients here.
In addition to saving the planet, Agri-Cycle’s partners save money. If you’re interested in learning how we can help your specific company or organization, including dealing with specific requirements on state or local food waste bans, we can help. Contact us today to get started by getting a quote or calling us at 1-800-850-9560.