Composting food scraps comes with a long list of potential benefits with major consequences, from reducing and absorbing greenhouse gasses to minimizing the $218 billion spent annually on processing food that is never eaten.
But barriers still exist that make it difficult to start food scrap collection programs. Composting is an expensive venture for businesses, ample infrastructure is often lacking and the permitting process can be grueling.
During a WasteExpo panel discussion May 8 titled Scrap Your Fears About Food Waste: A Guide to Implementing an Organics Collection Program, speakers who have started successful collection and composting programs discussed the challenges they faced and still grapple with today.
Dave Vaughn, the vice president and senior director of business and market development for San Francisco-based Recology; Charlotte Pitt, the director of the solid waste management division of the city of Denver; and Ned Foley, the owner of a farm and composting facility in Philadelphia called Two Particular Acres, shared their insights into beginning a program during the panel.
Each presenter brought a unique perspective based on their differing programs. Recology is a fully integrated company that collects and processes source-separated waste, recycling and organics. The solid waste division in Denver collects organics and contracts with an outside company to process them. Two Particular Acres collects organics from commercial facilities and processes them on site.
Here are some tips from the panelists on how to start a successful program.
Make sure supports are in place
No matter how well-intended a startup program is, it won’t succeed if the conditions aren’t right. Key things to make sure are in place before starting a program are:
- a nearby processing facility (or, ideally, multiple);
- an existing recycling program, as those customers are accustomed to separating their waste stream;
- strong demand from customers; and
- existing legislation conducive to starting a compost program.
Foley said permitting was, and still is, a pain point for him. “We spent lots of time trying to get the permitting structure right to build these facilities that everyone wanted, but just didn’t want right there [next to them],” Foley said. “The answer at the local government level was always ‘no.’”
While it is ideal to be a fully integrated company like Recology, which owns its own infrastructure, it’s often not realistic. It’s important to make sure permits are feasible in the potential location of a program.
“When you have to depend on others, regulation has to help you drive to get to where you want to be,” Vaughn said.
Begin with the end in mind
Before starting a program, visualize what you want the program to look like and set long-term goals. This will help inform decisions and drive growth.
It’s also important to sit down early on with decision-makers in the locality to plan with them, get on the same page and assure facilities are the right size.
“Too often we permit a facility that’s too small by the time we build it,” Vaughn said.
Find good partners
While it’s essential to partner with local governments, it’s also beneficial to find partners in other industries. Be creative. Pitt, for example, formed a partnership with Ace Hardware, which recently began selling Denver’s compost in its stores. Foley formed a partnership with a craft brewery to supply it with compost.
Understand your customers
Collecting data on customer behavior before starting a program can help determine what the incoming stream will look like and inform education efforts.
Start small and residential
All speakers agreed that starting small and gradually ramping up operations is essential to a successful program. Collecting a small amount at first allows operators to experiment with mixture ratios and work out the program’s kinks. “Composting food is a completely different animal than composting yard trimmings,” Foley said. “If you make mistakes, you get odors.”
This also applies to materials accepted. It is much easier to add accepted materials than to remove them from the program.
Speakers also agreed that residential is the ideal sector for operators to focus on when starting out.
“Residents are the ones who are already trained. They know the system,” Vaughn said. “Start in a place where you can control the education piece.”
Get the timing right
Vaughn said his biggest failure was ramping up quickly and pulling in too many customers at the get-go. It has since led to contamination issues, as the early customers didn’t receive enough education.
Pitt said her biggest failure is the opposite. “We took it way too slow,” Pitt says. “I wish we had more confidence. We’ve been in this five-year struggle in how to get more people to participate.”
All speakers agreed that a pilot program is essential. When growing the program from the pilot, it’s important to go at a pace slow enough to educate customers properly without losing momentum.
Do it for the right reasons
Though profitable, composting is inevitably expensive. Grant opportunities do exist, but the speakers say they still had substantial startup costs despite some funding. “Permitting costs a fortune, land costs a fortune, trucks cost a fortune,” Foley said.
Successful programs are often rooted in the goal of making a difference over making a profit. Be sure to understand the true cost of starting a program before embarking on the process. “It’s a conscious choice. It’s a moral choice,” Vaughn said.
Educate customers about those reasons
Continuing education is a cornerstone to a successful composting program. “The best thing about food waste is you can have a lot of fun educating customers,” Pitt said.
Successful organics collection programs educate customers about what to place in the bin before the program starts. They also continue education when contamination is found. Vaughn said education is a robust part of Recology’s program, as the company conducts regular waste audits and contacts customers immediately if they do have contamination.
Another key piece of education is informing customers not just how to compost, but why they should do it. “Messaging can’t just be about what you’re collecting—it has to be about the planet,” Vaughn said
Terminology also matters in education and regular communication. Dubbing food scraps as “waste” suggests they’re invaluable.