Food Waste
Our Goal
 The Coalition for Resource Recovery has set a goal to recover energy and nutrients in food waste locally to nourish and power New York City.
31 million tonsof food waste are discarded in the US each year. New York City’s accommodation, foodservice, and retail sectors discard 1,100 tons of food waste each day. This food waste is hauled to distant landfills and buried, resulting in a loss of valuable nutrients and energy and at a cost of $33M per year. The quantity of waste and lack of availability of sufficient land area to treat it, land values, zoning ordinances, and potential alterations to trucking routes have made it difficult for waste treatment facilities to be sited in New York City. Burying this trash results in the release of 225,000 metric tons of CO2e released each year, equivalent to taking 41,000 cars off the road.
Solution to be Evaluated
Reduce commercial food waste by ~50% through the use of onsite food waste reduction technologies. Site waste treatment technology at an existing waste transfer station could cost effectively treat waste and provide a new energy source to the city.
Success Stories
 Our first step toward our goal recovering energy and nutrients in food waste locally is to evaluate the environmental, operational, and financial performance of food pulpers at restaraunts. Food pulpers are a new category of technologies that process and reduce food waste onsite through mechanically removing its water content or through converting food waste to water or compost through microbial action. The Organic Waste Management System by Fox Pollution Systems, the FoxSMB-2, currently is being tested by Ted’s Montana Grill in Atlanta, GA.
The Fox SMB-2 Extractor shreds and extracts liquids from food wastes which in turn reduces the weight and volume of wastes to be stored, hauled and transported for disposed. While there are many examples of successful applications in hotels and grocery stores, use in a restaurant environment is still very new. Ted's Montana Grill is studying this new technology for a possible expansion into more restaurants in 2009. Please check back for results on the test.
Results from the food pulper study will be combined with an evaluation of end-of-life waste treatment technologies to be considered for siting and use in New York City, thereby harvesting the material and energy value for use by the New York City community. Technologies to be evaluated include composting, anaerobic digestion, and plasma gasification.
How to Get Involved
- Join the Coalition
- Request invitation to June 17th meeting
- Food pulper technology providers: nominate and donate equipment for testing
- NYC restarauteurs: participate in food pulper test
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