Reducing waste at your food manufacturing facility first
1. Setup a green bin program in your kitchen – City of Toronto offers free green bin organic collection for residential and industrial sector (you’ll start to pay for more than once a week) – however, our experience is that many industrials don’t take advantage of the green bin program. Some have said that since most restaurants and food producers’ rent includes waste disposal, there aren’t alot of financial incentives to implement. Culturally, your staff is already familiar with the concept due to the residential program, so it’s a relatively easy shift to start with especially if it aligns with your sustainability goals.
2. Hire a consultant
Free Resources for Reducing Food Waste at Your Facility by Provision Coalition
LEAF offers restaurants a sustainability certification and marketing incentive to be part of their Green restaurant guide
ReThink – End to end Consultant & integrator in this space
3. Before you discard it, can it be transformed into something else?
e.g., Spent Goods currently works with spent barley grains from craft breweries and incorporates it into food instead. A tincture company provides their output as low dose tincture e.g., echinacea, to a local juice company that in turn incorporates it as their immunity themed juice.
If you run a craft brewery and/or local farmer, check out our transformational solutions
Is there another business that might use your output as input?
e.g., Ethos Assets might be able to help
When you have no choice but to discard/compost, consider these Green bin alternatives at your food manufacturing facility:
1. Biogas small scale production – The size and space of your operation will matter but consider a steel container in the parking lot that will turn your green bin waste into bio-fuel, that in turn, could be converted into cooking fuel.
e.g., Regenerate Biogas
2. Dehydrate organic waste at your facility – reduce your tipping fees especially if transporting great distances.
e.g., Provectus systems are being piloted at the Toronto Sheraton – it’s the size of a small industrial freezer which uses 12 hours of electricity overnight to dehydrate the food scraps. It’s technology originally used in the Middle East and it’s output is water and a fertilizer supplement. It plays in the same space of ORCA systems – contact Regenerate Biogas who can provide more insight.
3. Vermicompost – if you don’t have the space and paying for tipping fees, why not have it hauled off to a nearby farm where worms will create fertilizer from it?
e.g., WasteNot Farm (Industrial Pickup); Compost City (residential pickup)
If you are a Grocery store and/or had a big event and left with surplus food, offer it at reduced/no cost to end consumer:
Foodrescue by Second Harvest – They’ll match you with a local non-profit looking for one time or regular donations
B12give – You just text and they’ll pickup same day and provide surplus to non-profit organizations.
Too good to go – App where consumers can purchase & pickup close to expiry food at a discount. Retailers get revenue instead of a loss.
Flash food – ideal for consumers looking for a deal on food within 2 days of expiry located at a participating grocery store
Feed it Forward – they receive your surplus food and offer it via their Pay what you can Grocery store based in the Junction.
This is based on our experience and by no means complete, if you have a suggestion, please contact us.