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Organic Material Recovery
Background
In 2005, the United States recycled 32.1 percent of the 246 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated from residential, commercial, and institutional sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal for the nation to increase its recycling rate to 35 percent of total MSW by 2008. In order to meet this goal, EPA estimates that the food recovery rate must increase from 2.4 percent to 13.2 percent.
Food Residuals Generation
Food residuals comprise approximately 11.9 percent of the MSW stream (or 29.2 million tons) and are the single largest component of MSW generated by weight. Currently, we recover only 2.4 percent of the discarded food residuals. Food residuals constitute more than 11.9 percent of all waste actually disposed in U.S. landfills and incinerators.
Supermarkets, restaurants, and institutional establishments such as schools, hospitals, and prisons have high proportions of food discards in their garbage.
Composting: An Opportunity to Convert Garbage to "Black Gold"
As the animal feed and rendering markets are declining, composting food residuals presents the best opportunity for large-scale food residuals diversion, second only to "food rescue" for human consumption. EPA estimates that the market for high-quality finished compost is larger than the supply and that 800 million tons of finished compost could be produced for applications in agriculture, silviculture, residential applications, nurseries and landscaping.
State Composting Regulations
The US Environmental Protection Agency Region III provided funding support
for the development of the Summary of Select State Composting Regulations.
Outreach Efforts
US EPA Region III has funded MACREDO to sponsor meetings and workshops to promote increased food recovery throughout the region including:
The Mid-Atlantic Organics Recovery Summit; Beltsville, MD; November 30, 2006. More than seventy stakeholders from throughout the region met to
share information on existing markets and initiatives in the region and best practices in other locations. Presentations are posted on the EPA web site. A committee was developed to support the expansion of organics recovery initiatives in the region. For more information, contact Linda Knapp.
Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association Composting Workshop; June 21, 2007; Camp Hill, PA. Forty-five people participated in the workshop on food waste recovery in cooperation with the PA Recycling Markets Center. The event serves as a model for other organizations throughout the region. Presentations can be viewed on the EPA web site.
Compost Matters; April 9, 2010; Philadelphia, PA. This public forum, co-sponsored with the PA Horticultural Society, examined current food waste recovery barriers, public policy issues, and successful models from the local area, the region, and from around the state. The high quality event attracted an audience of about 250 participants including sustainability directors from local institutions and businesses, municipal and state officials, and the general public. The program's presentations and panel discussion informed participants about the current opportunities for composting food waste and encouraged them to include food recovery efforts in their respective organizations and institutions.
Food Scraps Composting Training; October 6, 2011, Kutztown, PA. This comprehensive one-day training that attracted about 60 existing and potential compost practitioners and policy makers. The event was co-sponsored with Rodale Institute and held at its state-of-the-art research facility and compost yard that are part of an existing food and yard waste composting operation. The program included both classroom and on-site sessions involving food waste haulers, waste generators, and Rodale staff so that participants were informed about all aspects of running a successful food composting operation. Presentations included:
Also, MACREDO has been successfully promoting food waste recovery through a variety of composting activities:
reaching out to state farm associations and related organizations in each of the states informing them of the benefits of food waste composting.
sponsoring organic composting sessions at annual state farm associations throughout the region.
providing technical support and consultations to more than two dozen individuals including farmers, colleges and university representatives, and municipal and county yard waste composting facilities.
overseeing Virginia Tech's development of the Virginia Organics Recycling Planning Tool using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) modeling.
Contact Linda Knapp for more information about any of these initiatives.
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