You Can Donate Or Compost Rejected Food Loads Instead of Taking Them To The Landfill
If you’re a shipper or somebody who receives shipments of food, you should know what the options are for rejected loads. Too often, these loads are sent to the landfill, but they can usually be donated or composted, saving you tipping fees and, protecting the environment, and helping those in need.
Donation: There are local warehouses and pantries that accept rejected food loads, and donating may qualify you for a tax deduction.
Composting: If you’re not able to donate the food, the next best thing is to take it to a composting facility. The benefits of composting may include:
–Savings on tipping fees
–Creating nutrient-rich soil to grow more food
–Conserving limited landfill space
–Depackaging and certificates of destruction
Click below for more information about donating or composting a rejected food load or email questions [email protected].
Sustainable Sustainability
Assessing your business’s sustainability program periodically is a great way to ensure that you stay on target to meet your sustainability goals. One of the most common causes of an under-performing program is that nobody paused to ask the simple question, “How are we doing?” If you’re already recycling and/or composting, here are a few ideas to help ensure that your program will endure.
Check in with stakeholders: Touch base with the folks who worked to start your recycling or composting program and let them give honest feedback.
Check in with your hauler: Your program is a partnership with them and they may have excellent feedback on how its going and on the quality of the material they’re hauling for you.
Conduct a follow-up waste audit: There’s no better measure of how well you’re recycling or composting than to study how much food waste or recyclable material you’re sending to the landfill.
Click HERE for even more ideas on how to ensure a sustainable recycling or composting program at your business and click the HERE to watch a recorded webinar on best practices for office custodians.
Local Businesses Leading the Way
Check out SWACO”s monthly waste and recycling education podcast, WastEd hosted by Executive Director Joe Lombardi and Communications Director Hanna Greer-Brown. Guests offer insights into regional efforts that are helping to push sustainability forward as well as sharing their perspectives on the next big GREEN thing for central Ohio. Between a few laughs and the genuine and substantive conversation, each episode features takeaways about proper disposal that will have listeners recycling right in no time.
In the latest WastED episode, you’ll hear from local business owner, Joseph Klatt, who founded Marble Plastics, and you’ll learn about how his team turns discarded plastics into stunning countertops, furniture, and building materials. Unlike typical solid surface materials that hide their composition, Klatt’s creations proudly display colorful flecks from various plastic waste streams. Click below to listen, or find WastED wherever you get your podcasts.
