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Pierce County Coalition for Environmental Health Priorities
EPA CARE Level II Proposal attachment: Action Plans Page 1 of 8
D. Turning Food Waste into Compost or Energy
GOALs:
• Reduce food waste and packaging materials entering landfill from schools,
hospitals, restaurants and other institutions.
• Turn food waste into compost and/or energy.
BACKGROUND:
• Food waste is one of the last remaining areas where a large volume of material can
be diverted from the landfill. Currently it makes up 15,000-30,000 tons of Tacoma’s
commercial waste stream (www.cityoftacoma.org/File.ashx?cid=6493)
• Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Hospital (part of MultiCare Health
System) with their associated retail operations estimate their daily food waste going
to landfill at 400-500 lbs.
MEASURABLE objectives:
• Reduce a local facilities’ food waste going to landfill to 0.
• Increase the number of organizations and businesses diverting food waste from
landfill and using it to improve soils and/or generate energy.
Additional environmental health risks or benefits from action:
• Diverting food waste from landfills reduces methane production, a greenhouse gas
21 times more potent than carbon dioxide (EPA, Organic Materials Program,
www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/organics/food/index.htm).
• Reducing our waste stream reduces risks of contaminants entering water systems.
• Eliminating food and associated disposable products decreases the amount of land
needed for garbage disposal
LA County claims that every participating restaurant that recycles food waste
keeps 5 refuse truckloads of waste out of local landfills every year.
Department of Agriculture estimated in 1997 that 96.4 billion pounds of the 356
billion pounds of edible food in the U.S. was never eaten - an astounding 27
percent of food available for consumption is wasted and ends up in our landfills!
• Soils can be enriched with composted food waste without using chemical products.
• Food waste can be turned into energy, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
Risks associated with offsite composting (reduced by onsite composting):
Composting of hospital food waste has become the common practice in large King
County Hospitals. Their food and other compostable materials are collected and trucked
to Cedar Groves, a private composting facility in North Seattle. This requires large food
dumpsters on-site at hospitals and these can pose a risk to storm water if not sealed
and stored correctly. In addition, by delivering waste to Cedar Groves there is the added
transportation burden to the environment. The distance from Tacoma to Cedar Groves
is over 40 miles. LeMay Composting to the southeast of Tacoma is over 30 miles.