Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization (MASCO) reports on the impacts of the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban on their members. MASCO, a nonprofit organization for Boston’s Longwood Medical and Academic area (LMA), strives to benefit those who live, work, study or receive care in the area. MASCO members have increased their food waste diversion…
The Huffington Post reports on the Food Recovery Network’s role in reducing the amount of wasted food on college campuses. The article cites RecyclingWorks’ Food Waste Estimation Guide in calculating that an average student living on campus throws away 141 pounds of uneaten food annually. Because of the large volume of wasted food on college…
Renewable Energy from Waste reports on Stop & Shop Supermarket’s Green Energy Facility in Freetown, Massachusetts, which opened April 15. The Green Energy Facility will accept wasted food from the 212 New England Stop & Shop stores and convert this food into energy. The Green Energy Facility estimates that 34,000 tons of inedible food can…
Berkshire Community College (BCC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts placed 1st in the state and 5th in the nation for recycling rates in the RecycleMania Tournament! The college earned this title with a 75% recycling rate. The recycling rate was measured by the percentage of total waste that was recycled and composted over the course of the…
The Eagle Tribune published an Earth Day article by Martin Suuberg, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Suuberg’s article highlights partnerships and collaborations to promote goals and creative solutions for environmental protection. He provides the example of Massachusetts Clean Energy Partnership for Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Facilities. This partnership includes the Greater…
Practice Greenhealth is hosting a five-part series, “Feed People, Not Landfills,” on reducing food waste in hospitals. Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit membership organization, is a source for environmental solutions in the healthcare sector, including webinars, eLearning, and educational programs. The five webinars focus on food waste assessment, prevention, donation, and management in the health care…
The Recorder reports on one of the first Massachusetts permitted, on-farm composting operation, Martin’s Compost Farm. Robert Martin’s farm was permitted by Mass DEP in 1987. In 2014, Adam Martin, son of Robert, was motivated to take over the farm because of the positive environmental and community benefits of composting. Today, Martin’s Compost Farm is…
BioCycle Magazine reports on Food Recovery Networks success on college campuses. The Food Recovery Network (FRN), a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, works to fight food waste and hunger in America. Spanning across 40 states and 171 chapters on college campuses, the Food Recovery Network has donated 1.1 million pounds of food. Every semester thousands of…
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,…
Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data (ReFED) recently published A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent. ReFED, a collaboration between more than 30 businesses, nonprofits, foundations and government leaders, was founded in 2015 to create the first national study and action plan for reducing food waste in the U.S. The roadmap…
Whole Foods announced last week that it will start selling ‘ugly produce’ (vegetables and fruit that do not conform to the company’s aesthetic standards) in select stores beginning in April. They are partnering with Imperfect Produce, a company launched last summer that sells bruised, blemished, or misshapen fruits and vegetables to food retailers at a discounted rate,…
GreenBiz reports a new collaboration to research and identify strategies for reducing food waste known as Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data (RFED). ReFED is led by a group of businesses and foundations including Sodexo, Deloitte Consulting, MissionPoint Capital Partners, and the Closed Loop Fund. ReFED research has identified $165 billion in annual lost revenue in the…
Food Tank recently reported on the not-for-profit grocery store, The Daily Table, and their mission to reduce food waste while alleviating the problem of food insecurity. The Daily Table makes healthy foods affordable by selling products that are close to or past their display code dates at a discounted price point. The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic has created a fact…
In February, Food Engineering Magazine published an article on tactics that food and beverage manufacturers are taking to reduce waste. Food and beverage processors are using a wide variety of methods to reduce waste; these efforts help meet company’s sustainability goals while offseting manufacturing costs. The article includes some tips from RecyclingWorks for reducing waste.…
In December, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), and Lovin’ Spoonfuls, announced their plans to minimize food waste while increasing food security in eastern Massachusetts. The two organizations are collaborating to distribute excess perishable food to member agencies. The Greater Boston Food Bank, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a non-profit hunger-relief organization that serves more…
The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (HFLPC) recently produced a video, EXPIRED? Food Waste in America, on how inconsistent date labeling laws contribute to the problem of wasted food. This video expands on the issue identified in the Date Labeling Fact Sheet that HFLPC produced for the Food Donation Guidance for Massachusetts businesses on…
UMass Amherst recently published a report on a residential compost pilot program in one of their dormitories. A trash sort in the fall of 2014 determined that more than a quarter of the waste from the North Apartments was food waste. The original pilot in one dorm, North D, was completed during the fall of…
The Cambridge Day reports on how Food For Free has helped rescue and distribute 1.6 million pounds of surplus food since 1981. Food donation is one strategy that businesses can use to comply with the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban. The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act provides liability protection to businesses that donate surplus food. Businesses that…
The Boston Globe reports on BJ’s Wholesale Club’s partnership with Feeding America to help donate surplus food to those in need. BJ’s locations work with 45 local food banks in 15 states including the Greater Boston Food Bank to donate fresh produce, baked goods, dairy products, meat, and fish. GBFB helps to feed as many…
With the help of the Food Recovery Network, students have been fighting food waste and hunger by donating food from college campuses to food rescue organizations. Nine colleges in Massachusettes have Food Recovery Network chapters. The newest additions in the state are Olin College of Engineering in Needham and Gordon College in Wehnam. Students can apply on the…
Wicked Local Cambridge reports that Lesley University received a 2015 Food Recovery Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The award, a “Regional Food Recovery Achievement Certificate”, recognizes Lesley University as a leader in food waste diversion. Lesley partners with the food rescue organization, Food For Free, to donate surplus food to those…
Clark University recently received two awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizing their outstanding waste reduction initiatives. Clark was the only awardee to receive awards for both the Food Recovery Challenge and WasteWise programs in the same year. The EPA awarded Clark with Honorable Mentions in the Narrative Categories for the Food Recovery…
Biocycle Magazine published a forecast for food waste trends in 2016 written by Andrew Shakman of LeanPath. Last year the conversation about wasted food moved into the mainstream with top chefs and the media covering food waste topics. In a significant milestone, the USDA and EPA announced the goal of reducing food waste in the…
The Falmouth Enterprise reported on the Barnstable County Food Waste Subcommittee’s efforts to increase food waste composting on the Cape. The committee, formed in response to the Commercial Organics Waste Ban which took effect in October of 2014, is trying to increase the number of compost sites that accept food waste. Currently, there are two…
The MassDEP posted an updated Organics Study and Action Plan in January 2016 which replaces an earlier version posted in January 2014. This plan outlines the programs and initiatives underway to support the goal of reducing food waste disposal in Massachusetts by 35% by 2020. The recent version of the plan includes new initiatives and…
For participants in the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) and WasteWise programs, annual 2015 data and 2016 goals are due March 31, 2016. Participants in either program must submit their 2015 data and 2016 goals in order to stay active and maintain eligibility to receive awards. Enter data and goals by accessing your account on…
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is accepting applications for the Commonwealth Organics-to-Energy Program. The funding supports technologies that convert source-separated organic waste into electricity, thermal energy, or compressed gas for vehicle fuel. Applications are currently being accepted for three types of projects: Implementation and Pilot Project Construction Funding. Due March 22. Feasibility Studies. Due…
Last fall, the USDA and EPA posted a video about their goal to reduce wasted food in the US by fifty percent by 2030. In the video, Tom Vilsack (Agriculture Secretary) and Gina McCarthy (EPA) discuss the issue of wasted food and the importance of connecting surplus food to those who need it. Currently, nearly…
BioCycle Magazine recently featured the organics diversion program at Deerfield Academy. This independent boarding school has been diverting compostable waste from their dining hall for years. Recently, the school has been expanding efforts to divert organic waste across the campus as part of an effort to overhaul the campus-wide recycling program. The school calls this…
The Telegram reports on Food Recovery Network chapters at the College of the Holy Cross, Becker College, and Nichols College. The Food Recovery Network (FRN) was founded in 2011 by students at the University of Maryland who recognized how much dining hall food was being wasted. Currently, FRN has more than 150 chapters at colleges…
The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic has updated the tax incentive fact sheet for Massachusetts businesses that donate food. These updates incorporate recent changes to federal tax code that increase the incentive for businesses to donate edible food to social service organizations. The updated fact sheet is available on the Food Donation Guidance for…
In November, The Take Away interviewed Ashley Stanley of Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a Boston-based food rescue organization, about how food donation can help reduce food waste. Lovin’ Spoonfuls collects food that businesses would otherwise throw away and distributes to social service organizations. The interview highlights how local and state waste bans, like the Massachusetts Commercial Organics…
A blog post by the Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic details recent changes the tax code around food donations. Changes to the tax code allow for businesses other than C-Corporations to receive an enhanced tax deduction when making qualifying food donations, and make the deductions a permanent part of the tax code.…
An article in the Boston College student publication, The Gavel, describes the college’s food donation program. Every Bite Counts (eBC) is a student volunteer group that has been helping donate leftover dining hall food since 2005. Five nights each week, student volunteers package and label leftovers from dinner. The group works with Lovin’ Spoonfuls Food…
MetroWest Daily News reports on a range of food waste reduction efforts going on across the MetroWest region. The Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban, which went into effect in October of 2014, has motivated increased interest in diverting surplus food and food scraps from landfills and incinerators. The article describes examples of businesses and institutions…
WCVB reports on the awards that the EPA recently announced which recognize organizations for their food waste reduction efforts. Four of the fourteen organizations that received awards nationwide are located in New England. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection was recognized for food waste outreach and technical assistance provided through the RecyclingWorks program. Salem State…
The MetroWest Daily News published an article about The Food Recovery Act, which was introduced this week. This bill outlines a series of strategies for reducing food waste on a national level including expanding tax deductions and liability protections for businesses and institutions that donate food. Massachusetts, which implemented a commercial organics waste ban in…
The MetroWest Daily News published an article about the Food Donation Guidance recently posted to the RecyclingWorks website. RecyclingWorks is a program funded by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to help business create or expand recycling, composting, and other waste diversion strategies. Since the MassDEP established the Commercial Organics Waste Ban in 2014,…
A recent article on the Sustainable City Network website features three large institutions that have implemented food waste diversion programs. The article describes the logistics and challenges that each institution had to address to collect food waste on a large scale. One of the featured institutions is Boston University, which diverts food waste from both their…
The Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) has created a Best Practices & Emerging Solutions Guide. FWRA is an initiative of the Food Marketing Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and the National Restaurant Association. FWRA has three main goals: To reduce the amount of food waste generated To increase the amount of surplus food that is…
WCAI Local NPR for the Cape, the Coast, and the Islands, reported on RecyclingWorks efforts to reduce food waste in conjunction with the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban. The story is based on an interview with RecyclingWorks staff, Lorenzo Macaluso. Macaluso describes how RecyclingWorks helps businesses divert excess food through source reduction, donation, composting, and…
November 17, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lorenzo Macaluso, Director of RecyclingWorks MA (Primary) 413.218.1543 | Lorenzo.Macaluso@cetonline.org Joshua Cook, Green Business Specialist (Secondary) 617.292.5619 | Joshua.Cook@state.ma.us RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts Announces Food Donation Web Page [BOSTON] The Holidays are a time when many people take action to donate food to various food rescue organizations. Businesses and…
WABI TV5 reports on a new food waste depackaging and anaerobic digestion system operated by Agri-Cycle Energy and Exeter Agri-Energy in Exceter, Maine. The depackaging machine helps divert packaged food waste from landfills. Packaged food is fed into a large drum that breaks up the packaging. The food waste is then fed into 400-thousand-gallon anaerobic…
The EPA recently upgraded the Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) website. Any business or organization can join the FRC as a participant or endorser. Participants help prevent food waste by setting and tracking food waste reduction goals that follow the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy. Endorsers help educate organizations and businesses about the environmental costs of food…
The Barnstable Patriot reported on a recent food waste workshop for Cape Code health officials, waste haulers, composters, businesses, and institutions. The session, led by RecyclingWorks staff Heather Billings, focused on strategies for navigating the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban. The ban, which applies to businesses that generate one ton or more of food waste…
Wicked Local Framingham reported in September on Framingham State University’s food donation program. Meghan Skeehan, a graduate student in food and nutrition, founded a Food Recovery Network chapter at the school in 2013. The university has since donated about 2,500 pounds of food from the dining hall to local homeless shelters and food pantries. Most…
Gould Farm is a residential community nestled in the Berkshires that promotes recovery for people with mental health and related challenges through meaningful work, community living, and clinical care. The farm recently received Compost Site Technical Assistance from RecyclingWorks to help in manage their manure and food scraps. RecyclingWorks provided onsite assistance to assess their current composting…
A recent article in the telegram.com spotlights food donation programs at College of the Holy Cross, Becker College, Nichols College, and Framingham State University. These colleges have joined the Food Recovery Network. This national organization that helps recover perishable food from colleges for donation to people in need. Each school now donates some of the…
A recent article in MetroWest Daily News describes how the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban has the potential to help address the problem of food insecurity in the state. The article is written by the CEO, David B. Waters, of Community Servings. Waters’ organization transforms what many consider “food waste” into meals for people homebound by…
Masslive reports that Valley Zero Waste, a volunteer-run group, is hosting a contest to design a window decal for restaurants that divert food scraps for composting. The announcement of this contest coincides with the one year anniversary of the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban. The window decals are intended to help encourage smaller restaurants, which…
LeanPath released a free e-guide that compiles both well-known and creative tips for cutting waste in foodservice operations. These include menu planning strategies that reuse leftovers, preparation techniques that reduce spoilage, and methods for appropriately sizing batches to service volume. The ideas in this guide can save commercial kitchens money while also protecting the environment.…
A recent article in BioCycle outlines a report on options for commercial generators to manage organics on-site. This report was created by Tetra Tech Inc. as a guide to help businesses comply with Vancouver’s organics disposal ban which took effect July 1, 2015. The analysis covers everything from conventional storage through anaerobic digestion. The report…
This article from USA Today highlights the recent announcement of the USDA’s goal to reduce food waste 50% by 2030. The article includes perspective from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and notes that the effort has the support of a range of grocers and food-service companies. RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts assists businesses and institutions with recycling and food waste reduction…
This article from NPR describes how the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set a target to reduce wasted food in the United States fifty percent by 2030. The article describes the negative impacts of wasted food, including increased food costs, wasted fuel, and increased methane gas emissions, while providing a menu of options for…
This summer, RecyclingWorks staff helped the Wilco Solid Sound Festival establish a compost and recycling collection program. Every two years the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) hosts this music and arts festival. The event draws over 8,000 visitors and has more than a dozen food and drink vendors. Over the course of this…
The MetroWest Daily News reports that Framingham State recently became Food Recovery Certified. This certification recognizes business that donate surplus food to non-profit food recovery organizations. Framingham State is the second entity in Massachusetts to attain this certification. Their surplus food is delivered to Pathways Family Shelter and Pearl Street Shelter. Food Recovery Certified businesses…
An article by Lauren Palumbo, Chief Operating Officer of the Boston-based food Rescue Organization Lovin’ Spoonfuls, describes how grocers can help solve the problem of food waste while benefiting their bottom line. Food rescue organizations help connect grocery stores, wholesalers, and farms with social service entities that serve those in need. By donating food, grocers…
In a recent survey by AASHE, nearly a third of Americans said they would be more likely to attend a game or concert at a stadium if they knew that all of the stadium waste would be recycled or composted. One in five of those surveyed also said they would be likely to buy more…
Students at Emerson College created a short documentary that follows Food For Free, a food rescue organization based in Cambridge, as they capture donated food and distribute it to those in need. RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts assists businesses and institutions with recycling and food waste reduction through composting and food donation. To speak to a recycling…
The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic has posted three legal fact sheets for food donation in Massachusetts. The topics include: Date Labeling Tax Incentives Liability Protections As long as food is donated in good faith and date labeling rules are followed, there are ample liability protections for food donors. All businesses qualify for some…
An article in MassLive describes how the Boston Public Market, which opened this week, will donate surplus food and compost food scraps. The Boston Public Market is a year-round marketplace for local food with over 35 vendors. Two food rescue organizations, The Greater Boston Food Bank and Lovin’ Spoonfulls, will help distribute surplus food from…
An article in the Boston Globe last week featured three small green businesses in the Boston area. One of the businesses, CERO, is a cooperative organic waste-hauling service that started in conjunction with the Massachusetts commercial organics waste ban. CERO, which serves Dorchester, Roxbury and East Boston, was founded by five people from the community.…
A recent article in E&E Publishing describes how new laws, like Massachusetts’ Commercial Food Waste Ban, are helping to increase the portion of surplus food that is donated to charity. While a large portion of food diverted from the waste stream is composted, many organizations are helping connect food producers to food banks. In the…
A recent article in LeanPath explains the many hidden costs to foodservice operators of wasted food. In addition to the cost of the ingredients, there is also the energy and water to store and prepare the food, the labor to prepare it, the disposal costs to get rid of it, and the “cost” of lost…
The National Restaurant Association Show in May featured a number of products to help restaurants reduce food waste. These included everything from equipment to automatically capture grease from sinks and dishwashers to compostable birchwood utensils and wheat straw containers. RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts assists businesses and institutions with recycling and food waste reduction through composting and food donation.…
A report by the Green Sports Alliance (GSA) and Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) features 20 professional sports venues across North America that are implementing more sustainable food service and disposal practices. Many of these venues have programs to donate or compost excess food. The report includes tips for starting composting programs at sports venues.…
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) recently announced $1.1 million in funding for three projects that will convert organic materials into energy. The awards will support the development of anaerobic digestion facilities in Bourne, Freetown and Hadley. Harvest Power, Bourne, MA: $400,000 to design and build an anaerobic digester for processing wastewater treatment sludge, food waste, fats,…
This Berkshire Eagle article tells the story of seven restaurants and one market in Lenox that have combined forces to compost their food scraps. Alta, Church Street Cafe, Frankie’s Ristorante Italiano, The Old Heritage Tavern, Table Six, Firefly, Spoon and Lenox Natural Foods have contracted with Empire Zero Waste to bring their uneaten and leftover…
A revised version of a guide to On-Site Systems for Managing Food Waste, compiled by RecyclingWorks, is now available on our website on the “Options for Complying with the Commercial Organics Waste Ban” page. This comprehensive, 88-page guide includes information about cost-effective ways to comply with the Massachusetts Commercial Organics Waste Ban on-site, such as…
This article from the Professional Convention Management Association provides tips for reducing the amount of leftover food at meetings, including knowing how many people will attend, working with your caterer to determine a proper amount of food to serve, and keeping some food safely stored so that it can be donated if it is uneaten.…
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…
On June 4th, RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and Whole Foods to host the Spring 2015 “Diversion and Reduction through Food Donation” WasteWise Forum. The event took place at Whole Foods Market Regional Office in Cambridge. It was a successful event that brought together 58 participants…
In a recent article, WBUR reports that a new non-profit grocery store has opened in Dorchester, aiming to reduce food waste by selling aging and surplus food at a steep discount. The Daily Table collects food donations from supermarkets and sells them for extremely low prices, such as “canned vegetables two for $1, a dozen…
A recent article in Business NH Magazine reports that twelve New England organizations are supporting a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiative to reduce the nearly 35 million tons of food waste generated nationally each year. This initiative, called the EPA Food Recovery Challenge, focuses on encouraging businesses, organizations and institutions to prevent food waste by…
This blog post written by Andrew Shakman, CEO of LeanPath (a food waste prevention technology provider), highlights how to use social psychology tools to engage employees in food waste prevention activities. Although the examples apply to food waste prevention, Shakman explains the principles can be utilized to promote other behaviors, like food safety. The five strategies Shakman…
The Food Recovery Network (FRN) brings together students at colleges and universities across the nation to combat food waste and hunger by recovering edible food from their campuses that would have otherwise gone to waste and redistributing it to people in need. FRN partnered with Bon Appetit Management Company to launch a gleaning initiative to…
In November 2014, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, a working group of major food service retailers and trade associations, released the report Analysis of U.S. Food Waste Among Food Manufacturers, Retailers, and Restaurants. From statistics in the report, Jordan Figueiredo of EndFoodWaste.org and Nicole Civita of the Food Recovery Project at the University of Arkansas created…
The U.S. EPA Region 1 (New England) office recently announced the Regional 2014 Food Recovery Challenge Achievement Award winners based on 2013 data. The awards go to those who significantly reduce the volume of surplus food generated, donate food to people or animals, and/or compost excess food. The Massachusetts winners include: Tufts University Medford Campus,…
This article and accompanying video highlight major grocery store chains that are diverting unsold food that cannot be donated, as well as food scraps that are not sent to composting, to anaerobic digestion. In April, Stop & Shop announced the groundbreaking for its 1.25 MW anaerobic digester at its Freetown Distribution Center, which will…
This article from Wicked Local Burlington describes how food donations to the Burlington Food Pantry have increased since the Commercial Food Waste Disposal Ban went into effect in October 2014. The increase in food donations from large food service providers like a Wegmans grocery store has led the Burlington Food Pantry to expand hours and…
In Fall 2014, Simmons College, Emmanuel College, Wheelock College and Wentworth Institute of Technology all partnered with Casella Resource Solutions on waste diversion improvements, including single-stream recycling and back-of-house food waste diversion. This article highlights the increased diversion rates and positive behavior change these colleges have experienced as a result of working with Casella…
This article from Boston University’s (BU) independent student newspaper, The Daily Free Press, discusses the increase in food waste diversion to alternative organic waste processing methods like composting as a result of the Commercial Food Waste Disposal Ban that took effect October 1, 2014. The article highlights BU’s food waste diversion program, which was successfully…
This article explains the various waste reduction and diversion initiatives that Fitchburg State has implemented since 2008. These include removing straws from dining halls, diverting food waste to a local pig farmer, and single-stream recycling. In addition, signage with alarming food waste statistics has been placed near disposal areas in dining halls, with the intention…
This article from EPR Retail News highlights The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC and its announcement of the groundbreaking for its first anaerobic digester that will be installed at its Distribution Center in Freetown, MA. The anaerobic digester will process unsold food from stores that is not able to be donated to regional food banks or…
This press release details the results of the 2015 RecycleMania tournament, a waste reduction and recycling competition among colleges and universities across 49 U.S. states and Canada. This year’s competition engaged 4.1 million students at 394 schools to recycle or compost 80.1 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials, preventing the release of 129,411 metric…
This article from NPR’s “The Salt” details the rise of programs designed to rescue fruits and vegetables with visual imperfections from being wasted or thrown in the trash. Surveys in Minnesota and California suggest that anywhere from 5 to 30 percent of a farmer’s harvest is thrown out as a result of cosmetic imperfections. To combat…
This press release from Bentley University highlights food waste diversion that is taking place at the university. Sodexo staff in all of Bentley’s campus kitchens separate pre-consumer food waste. Additionally, in Seasons, the campus’ main dining hall, back-of-house staff separate and divert all food waste that is left on plates. Since Fall 2014, Bentley’s dining program has been…
This blog post from Spoiler Alert, a company based in Cambridge (MA) that has an “app” for connecting generators of surplus food to food recovery organizations, provides a visualization of food waste generation throughout the state and within the Boston metropolitan region. Staff at Spoiler Alert utilized publicly available food waste generation data from the state of…
This press release from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) highlights thirteen New England organizations that have backed the Food Recovery Challenge, an initiative that encourages businesses, organizations and institutions to prevent food waste by donating or recycling food. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is among the organizations who have become “endorsers” of…
One-third of all food produced in the world ends up as waste. In this new report, the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates the value of global consumer food waste at more than US$400 billion per year, and as the global middle class expands, that number could rise to US$600 billion in the next…
Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, began a food waste diversion program at the Higgins Cafeteria in 2007, and has since expanded the program to include multiple residence halls and most recently, the Academic Commons at Goddard Library. This article provides an overview of how food waste diversion to composting has spread across Clark’s campus, helping…
This radio story from WCAI, Cape and Islands NPR Station, and accompanying blog post highlight Falmouth (MA) resident Mary Ryther and her business “Compost With Me”, a small-scale residential and commercial food waste collection and composting service in Cape Cod. Ryther charges a nominal fee for food waste collection, and returns finished compost back to…
This article from Gazettenet.com describes the effort of a Deerfield farmer to install an anaerobic digester at his dairy facility. He’s working with commercial bans as well as USDA Rural Development. The article notes that the three other digesters in place around the state have simplified the permit process for anaerobic digestion. For more information on anaerobic…
This article from Cape News provides an excellent overview of a proposed anaerobic digestion facility at the Bourne landfill. The town sent an exploratory team to visit another facility operated by the same company, Harvest Power, and found that the operation produced little no no odor or noise that could be a problem for the town.
This article from LeanPath examines four food waste trends, highlighting Massachusetts as an early adopter of food waste ban legislation. Read the article to learn more about the innovations and economic environment surrounding the food waste ban. For information on the food waste ban, visit our Food Waste page for guidance from RecyclingWorks Massachusetts on the specifics of the…
NPR’s The Diane Rehm show concentrated on food waste in the recent edition of their “Environmental Outlook” series. Click here to hear the radio program and find interesting links and infographics on the issue of food waste. For information on the food waste ban, visit our Food Waste page for guidance from RecyclingWorks Massachusetts on the specifics of the…
Do you often find yourself unsure of the actual shelf life of your groceries? Every day, people throw away food that is still delicious and healthy, but luckily there’s a new resource to help consumers who are uncertain; Check out Stilltasty.com, where you can search for different food categories and learn how you can best store…
Presentations from the recent WasteWise forum are now available on our WasteWise page; you can visit that page or use the following links to download and review slideshows of the presentations. Solid Waste Management Hierarchy-Christine Beling, Project Engineer at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1 The Furniture Trust-Michelle Blakemore, Education and Outreach Manager at The…
The 2014 RecyclingWorks Year-End Report is now available on our about page. Visit that page or click here to download a copy to learn about all the ways that RecyclingWorks has helped businesses and institutions across the state manage their waste stream responsibly and adapt to the new Food Waste Ban.
Check out our new directory of available on-site technologies for managing food waste: On-Site Systems for Managing Food Waste Guide. Please note that RecyclingWorks or MassDEP does not endorse any of the companies or technologies represented in this document, and the information included has not been verified by MassDEP. This guide may be helpful to you if you’re…
