COMPOSTING AND THE GROCERY INDUSTRY The Following Bulletin Was Prepare

COMPOSTING AND THE GROCERY INDUSTRY The following bulletin was prepared from Grocery Industry Committee on Solid Waste October 24, 1991 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Solid waste composting is an important component of an integrated solution for solid waste management. Composting can divert organic, compostable materials, not otherwise recycled, from the solid waste stream and convert them into a useful product. Composting is environmentally sound, technically and economically feasible and meets local waste management needs. This report, from the Grocery Compost Task Force to the Grocery Industry Committee on Solid Waste (GICSW), is intended to establish composting as a viable and sustainable component of an integrated solution for solid waste management. To do this the industry supports the development of composting systems for grocery manufacturers and retailers, and the development of the supporting infrastructure. Composting can handle from 30 to 60 percent of all municipal solid waste, inclu ding food waste, yard waste and paper and paperboard waste. The grocery industry is committed to a high level of product stewardship. This commitment includes the environmentally sound management of wastes generated at the retail levl as well as wastes from grocery products after they have been sold and used by consumers. Much of this waste is organic in nature and landfilled. From a product stewardship perspective the grocery industry believes that composting is a more environmentally sound management practice than disposal for managing these wastes. While single stream and segregated stream composting may be more readily available for many manufacturers' and retailers' own waste, MSW composting is an attractive alternative for waste created by consumers. This report focuses on grocery retailer composting programs, but will also address goals and programs for manufacturers. Food waste plus wet and waxed corrugated from retailers alone accounts for 6.6 million tons per year of waste that could be composted rather than discarded, which is nearly 4 percent of all municipal solid waste (MSW). Disposal of those wastes costs the grocery retailers $482 million per year, eating up the pre-tax profits from $34 billion of grocery retail sales. All food waste produced directly by manufacturers and retailers, as well as home food waste produced by grocer shoppers, comprises nearly 20 percent of the entire grocery industry's wastes. On a store level, over 90 percent of the solid waste is deemed by this task force to be most representative of a "typical" store, produce 43 percent of their waste as food waste. Almost all corrugated is recyclable or compostable. 30 percent of the corrugated produced by a grocery store is either wet or waxed, precluding its recyclabiliy. Composting can achieve important benefits for the grocery industry including: 1. Meeting the demands of grocery customers who are demanding more environmentally sound and responsible ways of managing solid w aste; 2. Proactively controlling waste disposal tonnage and expenses; 3. Supporting governmental initiatives for landfill diversion and material recovery; 4. Encouraging recycling of other materials; and 5. Making the best use of natural and man-made resources by converting organic waste into compost instead of landfilling them. Each grocery industry facility should evaluate how best to handle its compostable waste. As detailed in the report, there are several possible approaches to handle mixed organics from the solid waste stream. Regardless of the approach, it is important for the industry to help establish a composting infrastructure. Market development is a key element of this infrastructure and the grocery industry supports market development initiatives. Depending upon the compost program, compost processors may require or prefer source-separated homogeneous food wastes to obtain maximum control over end-product quality. Source-separated materials may have greater value to th e end user because of the densification and readiness for processing, and therefore may lead to lowest collection and processing costs for the generator. For grocery retailers, this report focuses on segregated stream composting. Because the industry can generate a source-separated product, free of harmful wastes and relatively free of inert materials, it can easily be integrated into whichever composting program is most likely to be available locally. This report explains the various ways to handle, collect, transport and process grocery store wastes for composting. In general, the GICW recommentds: * Collection of compostables in dedicated barrels; * Pickup and transportation of the compostables either by