SPECIAL REPORT: Food Waste Recycling
Clean Your Plate: Governments Look To Food Recycling To Cut Waste Streams

ISSUE: Volume 14, Number 2, 2004

ABSTRACT:

Food waste recycling can be as simple as tossing sandwich crusts or corncobs on the compost pile, or as complex as breaking down the waste on a molecular level to convert it into fuel. Its messier properties—what one recycling executive calls “the ick factor”—and its health concerns have kept food waste from achieving the kind of widespread acceptance of paper, plastic, or glass. But as governments look for ways to increase their recycling rate, their eyes are increasingly turning to the dinner table. The overriding question with food recycling is, it’s feasible—but is it efficient and consequently, cost-effective?

SECTIONS:

-Composting/Vermicomposting
-Conversion to fuel
-Food Donation
-Animal Feeding
-Rendering
-Waste Prevention
-Portion Reduction
-Seattle’s Options
-Alameda’s Successes
-Unique Challenges
-Useful Links

DATA:

-Table: Yearly Volume of Food Waste Entering the Waste Stream
-Table: Origin of Food Waste
-Figure: Origin of Food Waste
-Table: Yearly Food Consumption
-Figure: Food Waste Recovery
-Figure: Composition of Waste Disposal

SPECIAL REPORT: King County’s Solid Waste System Faces Fees, Labor Disputes and Dissent from the Private Sector

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

- Northeast: BFI is proposing to reopen a Massachusetts landfill, drawing both interest and criticism.
- Southeast: Pembroke Pines, Fla. has settled with Waste Management over alleged overcharges.
- Midwest: The state of Michigan has filed suit against its only medical waste incinerator.
- Western: Nevada officials have protested plans to ship radioactive waste into the state.
- Pacific: Portland, Ore. has decided to make a temporary addition to its landfill tipping fee a permanent addition.

TO ORDER:

• Please call (952) 831-2473 or fax your request to (952) 831-6550 or email: research@wasteinfo.com.