Partnership Cutting Food Waste in Landfills
February 08, 2013
Guilford College and Guilford Dining are working with Waste Industries USA on a greener way to dispose of campus food waste.
Guilford Dining has been using a Food Waste Digester (FWD), a machine that uses patented microbes to break down food waste into liquid within 24 hours. The liquid is disposed of via the wastewater system.
Since the digester was installed in late summer, the College has been able to divert approximately 9,000 pounds of food waste per month from landfills.
“The FWD is a perfect fit,” said Chris Blain, the retail and sustainability manager for Meriwether Godsey, which manages Guilford Dining.
“It is essentially a mechanical stomach that breaks down food and eliminates it in an ecological way that aligns with the College’s stance on environmental sustainability. This technology allows us to manage food waste that composting alone could not.”
Before the digester was introduced, managing the amount of daily food waste generated overwhelmed the College’s compost capability. Either the quality of the compost was being jeopardized or some food waste was heading to landfills.
“As a Triad business for more than 25 years, we’re proud to initiate this partnership and introduce the future of food disposal systems with this green technology,” says Roger Marcum, general manager of Waste Industries’ Greensboro Branch.
