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Success Stories
Food Scraps
Many organizations have successful food recovery programs. Use the online form to tell us about your food scraps diversion or recovery project.
Surplus Food Recovery and Recycling Success Stories
Food
to Fuel | PDF
Version (1 pg, 327K, about
PDF)
Want fries with that fill up? With Pacific Biodiesel you can.
Hawaii-based Pacific Biodiesel, Inc. converts recycled cooking
oil into fuel that powers generators, commercial equipment,
vehicles, and marine vessels. Biodiesel production diverts
cooking oil from landfills, while its use reduces emissions
of major greenhouse gases and substances such as carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, hazardous diesel
particulates, and the acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide.
Rockin'
to Fight Hunger | PDF
Version (1 pg, 645K, about
PDF)
Rock and Wrap It Up! (RWU) is a nonprofit program that arranges
the collection and local donation of leftover food from rock
concerts, sporting events, political rallies, and college
and school cafeterias. There’s a lot of food leftover
from these venues—as a rule, caterers prepare 10 to
15 percent more than they need for an event—and RWU
makes it simple and satisfying to donate the leftovers.
Shopping
for Change | PDF
Version (1 pg, 381K, about
PDF)
Recycling food scraps is good for the environment and business!
Supermarkets in Massachusetts are reducing, recovering, and
recycling their food waste and saving money by participating
in the state’s voluntary supermarket recycling certification
program.
Food
Scraps Go to the Animals | PDF
Version (1 pg, 280K, about
PDF)
Don’t throw away your food waste! Barthold Recycling
and Roll-Off Services picks up food scraps from commercial
businesses and feeds the scraps to pigs and cattle.
Ho-Chunk Nation's Composting Improves Human Health and the Environment, a Resource Conservation Challenge news story, tells how the Ho-Chunk Nations started its program as a health initiative to address diabetes. Through this work, the Nation found a way to address not only its impact on the environment, but also the health of the community by encouraging gardening, healthier living, and better food choices.
EPA's Tribal Waste Journal (PDF) (28 pp, 982K, about PDF) includes case studies on food scraps composting from various Native American tribes and Alaskan Native villages.
California Integrated Waste Management Board's Food
Scrap Reduction Case Studies 
Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection has
several Commercial and Institutional Food Scrap Recycling Pilot Projects
food scrap recycling pilot projects underway.
NYCWasteLess, New York City's one-stop waste prevention and
recycling resource, features case
studies
describing how businesses have reduced their food waste.
WasteCap Wisconsin's Web site has several case
studies
describing how grocery stories and other organizations have
reduced their food waste.
Past Success Stories
Larry's Markets, Inc.,
a five-store grocery chain based in Seattle, Washington, successfully
incorporates recycling and food scrap composting into its
business operations. Larry's Markets began composting and
practicing other forms of recycling in 1991, and all five
stores participate in these composting activities. By doing
so, Larry's Markets diverted close to 900 tons of materials
(including food scraps, floral discards, and waxed cardboard)
from disposal in 1998. The grocery store chain also sends
food residuals to a topsoil facility for recovery and uses
organic materials in its landscaping activities.
In 1996, Middlebury
College
in Middlebury, Vermont, collected about 288 tons of food discards
for on-campus composting. This saved 75 percent of the college's
food discards from being disposed of in a landfill or incinerator.
In addition, the composting program saves the college approximately
$137 per ton in landfill hauling and tipping fees. As a result,
the college saved more than $27,000 in waste disposal fees
that year. From 1993, the year of the program's inception,
through 2000, the college has saved more than $125,000 in
waste disposal fees.
The Frost Valley YMCA
in Claryville, New York, composts 100 percent of its food
discards from its kitchen and dining room and uses the compost
in landscaping applications and for an on-site greenhouse
and an organic garden. By doing so, the Frost Valley facility
composts about 80 tons of food scraps per year and saves nearly
$10,000 in waste disposal costs.
