Blog: Food for Thought (and Not for Landfill)

In November 2010, Austin passed its Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO) to permit the City to achieve zero waste by 2040. In April 2013 the ordinance was extended to include the diversion of waste food by any "food enterprise."

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) recently released a new sustainability report that stresses restaurant initiatives in recycling, composting and food waste reduction.

According to the EPA, food makes for the majority of waste in landfills, accounting for 21% of the total waste.

Should you be sending your waste food to an anaerobic digester? Probably not. That's the conclusion of this independent research which compared the environmental impact and costs for deploying an anaerobic digester versus LFC biodigesters for a small community.

Pedalers Fork, a new restaurant in old town Calabasas California, installed a bio-digester LFC-200 to digest its waste food. Along with other measures implemented by the restaurant, it is one of the greenest restaurants in California.

The Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) was part of the documentation required by the US Government to become registered as a supplier to the US Government.

Big River Fish Corporation has acquired an LFC biodigester from Power Knot LLC to digest waste fish on site and save sending the waste to the landfill.

By composting waste materials on-site, businesses can significantly reduce the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of and thereby save money from avoided disposal costs. It may be difficult in order to figure out which type of composting process to go with. Here are some options.