On November 9, RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts co-hosted a Food Sustainability Symposium in Easthampton, MA, focusing on effective food waste solutions for businesses and institutions. Symposium attendees learned from their peers about different strategies for cost effectively diverting food scraps and surplus food from…
This fall, several facilities in Massachusetts are starting to accept packaged food material for depackaging. These facilities have installed infrastructure to separate food material from its packaging allowing the wasted food to be fed into an anaerobic digester, composted, or used to produce animal feed. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) list of organizations…
The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) recently featured the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban in a Success Story Video. ECOS is an association that helps state agencies to improve human and environmental health in the US. Massachusetts is one of the first states in the nation to implement an organics disposal ban. The ban,…
The University of Oregon Campus Zero Waste Program put together this extensive Zero Waste Campus Toolkit to help colleges and universities create a Zero Waste Campus. This toolkit contains resources regarding the concept of Zero Waste, Zero Waste management practices and a sample Zero Waste campus pledge and model policy. RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts has assisted…
The April 29, 2015 meeting summary, presentations, and handouts including March 2015 working draft fact sheets from Harvard Food Law and policy Clinic on food donation are now available on the MassDEP website here: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/massdep/news/advisory-committees/swac-organics-subcommittee-.html RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts assists businesses and institutions with recycling and food waste reduction through composting and food donation. To speak…
RecyclingWorks worked with CERO, an employee-owned organics hauler, to set up a successful composting program for America’s Food Basket, a supermarket chain in Boston. The supermarkets now divert 4.5 tons per week of source separated organics, totaling 234 tons annually. To learn more, read the case study here. RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts is a recycling assistance…
A Boston Magazine article recently highlighted the work of Food For Free, a Cambridge-based non-profit, collects unused food from farmers’ markets, grocery stores, bakeries, and universities and donates it to food pantries, schools, and individuals in need of healthy food. Sasha Purpura, executive director of Food For Free, says “Our mission is to address hunger…
This Boston Globe article highlights efforts made by Harvard University, among many other businesses and institutions, to donate food rather than throw it away. Harvard’s undergraduate dining halls generate 2,500 pounds of leftovers, which are now being given to needy families in Boston through Food for Free, a non-profit organization in Cambridge. The article mentions…
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental protection has issued this press release celebrating the start of our state’s first-in-the-nation commercial organics waste ban. Check out our food waste page for more information on how you and your business can help to divert food waste.
This press release from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection details the anaerobic digesting facility that Stop & Shop plans to build at their distribution facility in Freetown. Though Stop & Shop already diverts unsold food to farms and composters, this new equipment will allow energy to be generated from the unwanted food, taking in up…
