Organic Waste Hauling Pilot
By Jonathan Jackson
1,225 words
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Table of Contents
Food waste is not necessarily waste. Spoiled produce, meat, or scraps from cooking may not be palatable but do retain utility as organic waste. Organic waste can be used as input for compost, for livestock feed, or as feedstock for energy. In other words, organic waste from our food system can be easily returned to our food system and used to produce more food. This can only be accomplished if organic waste is diverted from the landfill.
Food waste comprises at least 20% of all input into Illinois landfills each year[i], and food banks, depositories and pantries are uniquely situated to steward this input to better use. By virtue of processing perishable foods for distribution, these organizations are already capable of sorting, collecting, and disposing or diverting organic waste. To demonstrate this capability, a seven-week organic waste hauling pilot was conducted at a food depository named Care for Real.
The Chicago Conservation Corps and Collective Resource Composting funded a seven-week organic waste hauling pilot at Care for Real, a food depository and warehouse in Edgewater. The pilot was conducted between April 29th - June 17th, 2021. Organic waste was comprised of perishable foods unfit for consumption and distribution. Food depository organic waste is typically removed from inventory and sent to a trash compactor, but for the pilot it was instead sent to a compost tote. Each tote held 32 gallons of organic waste.
This pilot measured the amount food unfit for consumption or distribution that the food depository throws away. This pilot was implemented and accomplished with minimal change to business operations, without drift from mission, and utilizing a predominately volunteer driven workforce. This pilot demonstrates how easy it is for food depositories to divert organic waste, increase landfill capacity, and aggregate quality inputs for local food production.
Care for Real began with two totes the first week and increased to four totes for the remainder of the pilot. Care for Real would essentially fill one compost tote per day and would fill all four totes by mid-week. Once all the compost totes were full, excess organic waste was redirected back to the trash compactor. It is therefore likely that Care for Real can fill between six to eight totes per week, when including all breads, grains, and produce unfit for distribution.
Care for Real diverted 1.65 tons, or 3,250 pounds, of organic waste from the landfill.
Twenty-six totes were filled with organic waste, and on average a full tote weighs 125 pounds.
Each ton of food waste diverted from the landfill saves landfill capacity and can be easily reused in the local food system.
The Chicago Metropolitan region sent 2,669,796 tons of waste to landfills in 2019, 20% (533,959 pounds) of which was food waste.
The organic waste collected in this pilot represents roughly 1,000 pounds of finished, windrow compost, which is also known as soil amendment or fertilizer.
Finished windrow compost is, generally, about one-third the volume of the input[ii].
If using six compost totes of 32-gallon size – i.e., one tote for each operating day - Care for Real could divert 750 pounds of organic waste each week and 39,000 pounds, or 19.5 tons, of organic waste each year.
Annually, the 19.5 tons of organic waste stewarded by Care for Real could become 6.5 tons of compost for local or hyperlocal food production.
Increased communication, including more training and the use of strategically placed training materials or references, will be effective at reducing contaminants in the organic waste. Contaminants in the waste include rubber bands, wire ties, and plastic bags.
The designation of a quality assurance person would also increase quality regarding the removal of contaminates. The proper removal of contaminants is important for a quality organic waste stream, and quality is valuable.
A dedicated funding source is necessary to cover the cost of organic waste hauling services. See the Challenges section for more details.
Diverting organic waste away from the landfill does more than strengthen a food depository’s reputation as a responsible community partner and general do-gooder; it addresses three timely societal issues noted below.
1. Local food production and food security
Food depositories are uniquely situated to directly support local food production and further address food security issues. By diverting organic waste from the landfill and toward local end-users, food depositories deepen the regional supply chains necessary to produce and transport nutritious, local food.
Local farms, plant nurseries, etc., depend on developing private supply chains so they can conduct direct farm sales. Growing food and then selling food to a grocery store is not a direct farm sale strategy. Successful examples of direct farm sales include: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, farmers' markets, food co-ops, u-picks, and farm stands. Direct sales operations increase food security by providing nutritious food in communities where there are no grocery stores.
2. Landfill Capacity
Increasing landfill capacity by diverting organic waste is valuable. Constructing a landfill is outrageously expensive, and every acre of waste which a food depository diverts will delay hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction. Currently, Chicago’s four landfills will be full in 12.5 years,[iii] and more landfills must be constructed.
Estimates for the cost range of constructing a landfill are between $300,000 to $800,000 per acre [iv]. According to the US EPA, “It can cost more than $1 million per acre to construct, operate, and close a landfill in compliance with … regulations.”[v] Metropolitan Chicago’s four active landfills are a total of 98,700,537 cubic yards,[vi] which converts to 61,780 acre-foot (i.e., acres stacked on top of each other).
Increasing landfill capacity is important landfills are de facto brownfields,[vii] and intentionally creating brownfields has proven to be a costly and dangerous waste management solution.
3. Alternative Energy
Food depositories, which process tens of tons of food waste annually, should recognize their positioning in the alternative energy supply chain, especially as host municipalities seek to achieve green economic and sustainability goals.
Natural gas is 60-90% methane and it is created when organic material breaks down. To quote the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, “Landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States. Landfills contain the same anaerobic bacteria present in [an anaerobic] digester that break down organic materials to produce biogas.”[viii]
If organic waste is diligently diverted from a landfill and placed into an anaerobic digester, the organic waste will produce methane which can be harnessed for energy.[ix]
Chicago does not have ordinances or services addressing systematic organic waste disposal.[x] Private scavengers and haulers complete this work and they require a fee for service. Chicago ordinance 4-6-130 defines private scavengers as the entities removing and disposing garbage or other waste from any premises where the removal and disposal of such matter is not provided for by the city.
Based on any cost model for waste hauling, there is minimal or negative financial benefit for a resident or business to use the service. Ordinance compelling municipal landfill diversion can essentially reframe this conversation from “how can we fund” to “how can we comply.” But, until there are Chicago ordinances encouraging landfill diversion techniques, grant funding or private investment is necessary to further organic waste hauling services. This requires constant fundraising.
Sources
[ii] https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/44736
[v] https://www3.epa.gov/ttnecas1/docs/eia_ip/solid-waste_eia_nsps_proposal_07-2014.pdf
[vii] https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/cleanup-programs/srp/Pages/landfill-info.aspx
[viii] https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-biogasconverting-waste-to-energy#2