Organics

One-third of food goes uneaten across the globe. Wasted food can add billions of tons of GHG emissions to the atmosphere. In the U.S. alone, more than 60 million tons of food is wasted each year, and displaced food carries a price tag of well over $160 million. The EPA estimates more food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in our everyday trash, making up 22 percent of the disposed stream. Organic materials — primarily discarded food and yard trimmings — comprise approximately 30 percent of the waste stream — and Waste Management continues to utilize new technologies to extract economic and environmental value from these materials.

In 2017 Waste Management processed 3.38 million tons of source-separated organic materials, including yard trimmings, food waste and biosolids — sludge sourced from wastewater treatment facilities. Most of the organic waste collected goes to facilities that create marketable compost and soil amendment products.

Waste Management Bulkbins™ Used for Organics Waste

We continue to innovate to make it easier to capture the value of organics in an efficient, and environmentally protective manner. Over the past several years, Waste Management worked with container manufacturers to create a new bin, Bulkbin™, uniquely designed for commercial generators of organic material. In Denver, Colorado, our Bulkbin™ concept was put to good use with a Waste Management client who was struggling to move its facility to zero-waste status. We utilized our Bulkbin™ containers to divert the heaviest material in their waste stream — animal feed products that did not meet their product sales specifications — from landfill. Today, 100 percent of this material is diverted to a compost facility, with the program filling over 200 Bulkbin™ containers — 20 to 30 tons — daily.

In addition, we worked with a large retailer to provide organics recycling services utilizing the Bulkbin™ as part of a reverse logistics approach to economically transport unusable food wastes. That program has been rolled out to over 170 stores utilizing over 1,300 Bulkbins™.

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