FOOD WASTE
Our goal is to accelerate the development of a local, reliable, environmentally-sound, and economical commercial food waste recovery infrastructure for urban centers. Over 34 million tons of food waste is generated in the US each year. Less than 5% of this food waste is currently recovered. Diverting this food waste from landfills would result in the avoidance of more than 23 million metric tons of CO2 equivilance each year, the same as taking 7 million cars off the road. Urban areas face particular challenges in deploying food waste recovery solutions given a number of factors, including: the quantity of waste, the lack of availability of sufficient land area to treat it, land values, zoning ordinances, potential alterations to trucking routes, and the need for much more robust end-markets if solutions are to be scaled up.
FOOD WASTE REDUCTION AND COMPOST IN MULTIFAMILY RESIDENCES
For the past three years, Global Green has conducted food scrap outreach programs in California, including bringing the first multifamily food scrap compost programs to the cities of Los Angeles and Albany, California.
“The data that Global Green has been collecting on best practices for multi-family dwelling organics collection will not only help the City of Albany, but also any other jurisdictions attempting to expand organics programs to the multi-family dwelling sector.”
- Nicole Almaguer, City of Albany, California
Lassoing in Food Waste from the Effie Awards
While NYC has a wide variety of food donation options, it is still common for hotels and venues of large events to send any edible food waste to landfills – particularly following large events. Effie Worldwide, Inc. teamed with Global Green USA, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, and Food Cowboy to donate over 120 pounds of unserved food from its 47th Annual North American Effie Awards Gala held June 4 at Cipriani 42nd Street to the New York City Rescue Mission, with Uber donating the transportation. Global Green’s Coalition for Resource Recovery member Food Cowboy initiated Limo for the Leftovers, a program that uses mobile technology to help address the logistical challenges for venues and caterers to donate surplus food to food banks and soup kitchens.
Report Released: Food Scrap Recovery Pilot Results from Albany, CA
In coordination with waste haulers, city agencies, and property managers Global Green undertook an in-depth study comparing diversion rates for buildings the property manager had met the basic requirements of the local organics recovery ordinance, and the building where the tenants received kitchen pails (donated by Orbis Corporation) and compostable, water-resistant paper bags (donated by Bag to Earth), as well as door-to-door, one-on-one outreach.
Global Green Presents at Northern California Recycling Association Annual Recycling Update Event
Global Green is a member of the Northern California Recycling Association, a group that coordinates the many efforts to increase waste diversion across the region. Global Green presented at its annual Recycling Update event to an audience of several hundred waste industry, municipal, and non-profit professionals.
Global Green Introduces First Multi-Family Compost Pilot in Los Angeles
Global Green USA and CoRR member Athens Services, one of L.A.'s largest recycling and waste services company, have joined forces to introduce food scrap recovery to more multi-family buildings, starting in Lincoln Heights. The pilot represents the largest residential building to implement food scrap collection in the city to date.
BigApps for the Big Apple
Matt de la Houssaye advised on the development of mobile apps that would reduce food waste in New York City’s BigApps Competition. It is the fourth annual contest from the New York City Economic Development Corporation for software developers and members of the public to create web or mobile applications using City data to solve big issues that affect New Yorkers. Matt advised on the development of apps designed to help the over 100 restaurants participating in New York City’s Food Waste Challenge measure and track their food waste, as well as the broader “Cleanweb: Energy, Environment, and Resilience” category.
Mayor Bloomberg Announces Food Waste Challenge
Mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of a Commercial Food Waste Challenge initiative at the New York Times “Building Sustainable Cities” Conference. More than 100 participating restaurants have pledged to reduce 50 percent of the food waste they send to landfills through composting and other waste prevention strategies.
The initiative was hailed by a broad spectrum of industry and environmental groups. Lily Kelly, Interim Director of Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery, praised the Mayor’s efforts. “When more businesses recover their food waste it benefits all New Yorkers by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging investment in local processing infrastructure,” she said. “We are delighted to be working with the Mayor’s office to support this program.”