Tip Sheet #1

WASTE ORIGIN: General Operations
WASTE TYPES: Waste Food and Food By-products

WASTE REDUCTION AND RECYCLING METHODS:

• Reduce landfill and wastewater treatment costs by decreasing waste material and by-products in production processes:
  • Use brooms and scrapers to clean floors while they are dry before washing down with water;
  • Use high-pressure spray washes during cleanup to conserve water;
  • Dedicate mixing lines to certain products to reduce changeover cleanups;
  • Minimize spills and leaks on the production line to prevent raw materials from becoming wastes.
• Use food by-product as an animal feed:

  Advantages over composting or landspreading include: fed to livestock in original form (check with local animal health authorities to see if permit is required), fed in both liquid and solid form, and can be fed all year regardless of weather conditions.

• Composting by-products creates useful soil additive called humus with the following benefits:
  • Low transportation costs from on-site composting; volume and weight of wastes can be reduced up to 40 percent;
  • Low capital investment is required since composting is a batch process using a simple pile and windrow system for biological breakdown;
  • Useful for seasonal processors like canneries whose wastes may be available for only a short period and not acceptable for livestock producers as feed;
  • Humus can be stored without spoiling; raw food by-products cannot.
• Landspreading incorporates by-products directly into the soil with the following benefits:
  • A separate on-site compost facility is not necessary;
  • The finished product does not have to be stored;
  • Finished product does not have to be transported; it becomes a plant nutrient in the soil.

Sources