Cleveland Makes Headlines with Large-Scale Composting of Food Waste
Businesses in Cleveland are out in front, pioneering what some are calling the “next green wave:” large-scale composting of food waste.
According to The Plain Dealer, several of the city’s major food-waste makers are spearheading an effort to keep tons of biodegradable food scraps out of landfills. They dump their food waste into biodegradable bags (often made out of potato starch), and then a composting company hauls them away to be turned into a high-quality soil additive.
The article reports that in a three-week pilot program in November 2009, eight Cleveland businesses, in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District and the sustainability group Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S), combined to collect nine tons of food waste.
Although that program was considered a significant success, advocates say they know more can be done, and they’re already working to add “fan food waste” collected from Cleveland’s sports venues to the composting efforts.
It’s all part of a movement for cities across the country to become zero waste. (See this earlier post about zero waste initiatives in the automotive industry.)
For more examples, check out Oakland’s zero waste strategy here. Details about Seattle’s plan are here. And you can read about Zero Waste San Diego here.
