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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.
Outreach Efforts
Since 2006, 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 (215-843-7364).
• 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.
• Farm Composting Session at the “Keep Farming First” Conference; February 14, 2008; Malvern, PA. Ned Foley gave the presentation about the composting systems he has developed on Two Particular Acres, his small family farm located in western Montgomery County. About twenty people participated in the session.
MACREDO is currently developing an outreach campaign to selected farm associations in each of the Mid-Atlantic states to inform them of food composting opportunities and to identify interested farmers in their areas for follow-up technical support.
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