Food producers are increasingly under pressure from government mandates, consumers, and corporate stakeholders to adopt sustainability goals.
Recycling production waste depends on what outlets are available near the plant and if the logistics make economic sense. Are the disposal rates at these recycling facilities competitive with just landfilling?
What are the options and innovations found today?
1) Anaerobic Digestion
What is it?
Anaerobic digestion is a process that breaks down organic matter, such as animal manure and food wastes, in the absence of oxygen. This process is carried out by bacteria and results in the creation of a Biogas that can be used like natural gas to provide heat, generate electricity, and power cooling systems, among other uses. Digestate is the residual material left after the digestion process. It is composed of liquid and solid portions and can be valuable as a fertilizer and/or a soil amendment.
Anaerobic digestion is a sustainable and eco-friendly method of waste management that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate renewable energy.
Many of the digesters in operation today exclusively rely on manure to produce their biogas. Some of the incentive to do this revolves around carbon credits. Digesters receive a lower carbon credit value if they use any food waste as a feedstock.
The cost of building and operating an anaerobic digester is high and the return on investment challenging. As a result, the option of using digesters as a recycling option for food production waste is limited as they are not widespread.
2) Composting
What is it?
Composting is an aerobic method (vs anaerobic for digesters) of decomposing organic solid wastes, so it can be used to recycle organic material. The process involves decomposing organic material into a humus-like material, known as compost, which is a good fertilizer for plants.
The feedstock for compost facilities is primarily green waste like leaves, grass, brush, and tree limbs. Some composting outlets do accept food waste.
There are several facilities on the West Coast that accept food waste. They all charge a disposal fee to help defray the cost of operation. It takes a great deal of area to run a compost operation and the processing is time consuming while requiring constant oversight.
3) Upcycling
What is it?
Upcycling is a product that is taking some food input that otherwise would have been wasted and using it in a product designed for human consumption - from waste to human consumption.
The focus on upcycling is relatively new. The Upcycled Food Association was recently formed to provide upcycled products with certification.
A good example of this is taking oat milk pulp that in the past was discarded and creating oat milk flour – from waste to human consumption.
There are challenges. There needs to be a reliable, consistent, and a large enough volume for upcycled ingredients and products to succeed in the marketplace. Above all, it has to be safe for human consumption. This would likely require food producers to change current operations to capture the waste stream and to alter their processes to ensure safety. This can be costly.
This is an area where food production waste could eventually have value as it is Upcycled into new products.
4) Animal Feed
Swine, cattle, dairy cows and mink farms may take the material at no cost and even, in some cases, pay for the food waste.
If the food waste is found to be of nutritional value, then there is actually a market for it. An example is fish processing waste that can be used in pet foods and mixed into swine feed. It is found to be high in protein with beneficial minerals and oils.
Many of these livestock operations are at a significant distance from food production plants. Logistics in this case play an important role in determining if this is a feasible outlet for food production waste.
There are other outlets to be considered including land application and new innovations soon to hit the market.
Yes, recycling food production waste can be more economical than landfilling. To reach sustainability goals, food production plants need to source the most available recycling outlets near their plants and to make sure the cost of hauling is reasonable.
David Russick is the CSO for Innovative Waste Recycling. IWR partners with food production companies across the U.S. to economically reach sustainability goals.
California League Of Food Producers