Philadelphia wholesale market partners with Natural Upcycling to divert waste

The Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market has reduced its waste by 80 percent in less than six months after hiring professional help, according to The Packer.

The Philadelphia-based market partnered with Natural Upcycling, Linwood, New York, a food waste collection company that recycles organic or food waste and turns it into a renewable resource.

“We want to get to a point where we aren’t throwing anything away,” said Mark Smith, market manager. “That last 20 percent is going to be a big hill to climb, but I think we can get there over time.”

Natural Upcycling handles liquid, food, byproducts, out-of-spec products, packaging—such as aluminum, shrink wrap, cardboard and glass—and pallets as well.

“Our mission is to do something better with the materials we get, and hopefully save them some money,” said Harry Cohen, co-founder of Natural Upcycling.

He added, “If food can’t be sold, can it be donated to feed people? Then animals? If not, anaerobic digesting or composting? Last is the landfill.”

As reported by The Packer, Natural Upcycling has taken over management of an 11,000-square-foot waste and recycling center on the terminal’s property, which was handling more than 500 tons a month of waste, including food, cardboard, plastic and crates.

Previously, the market employed 12 staff members to sort the waste and recycle cardboard and plastic. Now, there are three employees handling the same load, 75 percent of which is diverted from the landfill, Smith said.

Natural Upcycling has the tools, technology and infrastructure to semi-automize, streamline and maintain “hyper focus” on the waste more efficiently and more sustainably, Cohen said. Each month, the market generates 60 to 80 tons of cardboard that employees bail, stockpile and transport at 20-ton truckloads to the mill for recycling to become paper items, such as paper towels.

In addition, the company created a system to separate a couple of tons a month of plastic crates and pallets, which are sold to a polymer company that grinds it back down to make new plastic items.

Each week, the market ships out four truckloads of wooden pallets to a pallet re-manufacturer, where the pallets will either be reconditioned or ground into sawdust to be used for animal bedding.