Food Waste Focus

In the United States, food waste has increased by 50% since 1974 and today over 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. is thrown out.  These figures not only pose a significant environmental threat, but also a critical social challenge as more people struggle with hunger.  According to the EPA, more than 34 million tons of food waste was generated in the U.S. in 2010 and less than 3% was recycled and recovered.  The rest - 33 million tons - was thrown away, making food waste the single largest component of municipal solid waste (MSW) reaching landfills and incinerators.

Food waste is generated from many sources including supermarkets, restaurants, food processors, schools, etc..., but the challenge is designating the best method/outlet for disposal.

Donation:  Hunger is one of the greatest challenges facing our country today. In 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children. Donating surplus food inventory to food banks can be efficient and cost effective. It reduces warehouse storage and disposal costs, and your local food bank can also pick up your donations free of charge. Food donation can also generate significant tax benefits for companies. To help encourage donations, the "Good Samaritan" law was created to prevent good food from going to waste while protecting companies from liability. Here are a couple of great food donation programs: Feeding America, Ample Harvest and Second Harvest.

Rendering For Animal Feed:  Food waste rendering for animal feed is an important part of food waste reduction and something farmers have come to rely on. Many supermarkets, restaurants, food processors, etc... find that rendering food waste not only benefits farmers, but can also help the bottom line.

Anaerobic Digestion:  The benefits of anaerobic digestion are twofold: harnesses the inherent value in food waste and creates clean renewable energy and the digestate can be used as a natural fertilizer (which improves soil health).

Composting:  Composting offers companies another option for diverting their organic waste from landfills while contributing to the creation of a beneficial byproduct.

Landfills:  Sending food waste to landfills should be a last resort and only considered when the above options are unavailable. Landfills are the single largest source of methane gas in the U.S., which is 23 times more destructive as a greenhouse gas (GHG) than CO2.





Before a company can decide which food waste recovery is best, they must first understand their waste stream. At Garb-el we offer our customers more than a machine, we offer a turnkey organic waste solution including:

       1.  Conduct a waste audit
       2.  Determine the most cost effective and environmental organic waste diversion option
       3.  Identify the number of stores/locations in a given territory
       4.  Staff training program

Diverting food waste from landfills is not only the sustainable and socially responsible thing to do, but can also increase profitability. The ultimate goal of food waste diversion should be finding the productive process for handling food waste with the greatest return.