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COMPOSTING AND THE GROCERY INDUSTRY
The following bulletin was prepared from Grocery Industry Committee on
Solid Waste October 24, 1991
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Solid waste composting is an important component of an integrated solution
for solid waste management. Composting can divert organic, compostable
materials, not otherwise recycled, from the solid waste stream and convert
them into a useful product. Composting is environmentally sound,
technically and economically feasible and meets local waste management
needs.
This report, from the Grocery Compost Task Force to the Grocery Industry
Committee on Solid Waste (GICSW), is intended to establish composting as a
viable and sustainable component of an integrated solution for solid waste
management. To do this the industry supports the development of
composting systems for grocery manufacturers and retailers, and the
development of the supporting infrastructure. Composting can handle from
30 to 60 percent of all municipal solid waste, including food waste, yard
waste and paper and paperboard waste.
The grocery industry is committed to a high level of product stewardship.
This commitment includes the environmentally sound management of wastes
generated at the retail levl as well as wastes from grocery products after
they have been sold and used by consumers. Much of this waste is organic
in nature and landfilled.
From a product stewardship perspective the grocery industry believes that
composting is a more environmentally sound management practice than
disposal for managing these wastes. While single stream and segregated
stream composting may be more readily available for many manufacturers'
and retailers' own waste, MSW composting is an attractive alternative for
waste created by consumers.
This report focuses on grocery retailer composting programs, but will also
address goals and programs for manufacturers. Food waste plus wet and
waxed corrugated from retailers alone accounts for 6.6 million tons per
year of waste that could be composted rather than discarded, which is
nearly 4 percent of all municipal solid waste (MSW). Disposal of those
wastes costs the grocery retailers $482 million per year, eating up the
pre-tax profits from $34 billion of grocery retail sales.
All food waste produced directly by manufacturers and retailers, as well
as home food waste produced by grocer shoppers, comprises nearly 20
percent of the entire grocery industry's wastes. On a store level, over
90 percent of the solid waste is deemed by this task force to be most
representative of a "typical" store, produce 43 percent of their waste as
food waste. Almost all corrugated is recyclable or compostable. 30
percent of the corrugated produced by a grocery store is either wet or
waxed, precluding its recyclabiliy.
Composting can achieve important benefits for the grocery industry
including:
1. Meeting the demands of grocery customers who are demanding
more environmentally sound and responsible ways of managing
solid waste; 2. Proactively controlling waste disposal tonnage
and expenses; 3. Supporting governmental initiatives for landfill
diversion
and material recovery; 4. Encouraging recycling of other
materials; and 5. Making the best use of natural and man-made resources
by
converting organic waste into compost instead of landfilling
them.
Each grocery industry facility should evaluate how best to handle its
compostable waste. As detailed in the report, there are several possible
approaches to handle mixed organics from the solid waste stream.
Regardless of the approach, it is important for the industry to help
establish a composting infrastructure. Market development is a key
element of this infrastructure and the grocery industry supports market
development initiatives.
Depending upon the compost program, compost processors may require or
prefer source-separated homogeneous food wastes to obtain maximum control
over end-product quality. Source-separated materials may have greater
value to the end user because of the densification and readiness for
processing, and therefore may lead to lowest collection and processing
costs for the generator.
For grocery retailers, this report focuses on segregated stream composting.
Because the industry can generate a source-separated product, free of
harmful wastes and relatively free of inert materials, it can easily be
integrated into whichever composting program is most likely to be
available locally.
This report explains the various ways to handle, collect, transport and
process grocery store wastes for composting. In general, the GICW
recommentds:
* Collection of compostables in dedicated barrels;
* Pickup and transportation of the compostables either by loading
barrels into a truck or by emptying the barrels into a dedicated dumpster
or compactor for collection by a hauler;
* Composting at the best locally available site; and
* Careful training of store employees to maximize participation and
minimize contamination.
Several specific recommendations addressing issues such as economic
analysis, health issues, facility flexibility and recommended
implementation steps are included.
This report also discusses Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) composting. MSW
composting, as described here, refers to the composting of residential and
commercial separated mixed organic waste, with the recyclables and other
noncompostable materials removed. Separation may occur at curbside or the
waste may not be transported by conventional waste vehicles to a central
site for the site separation of compostable materials from noncompostable
materials. There are 15 MSW composting facilities currently available in
the U. S. Another 150 are in various stages of planning or development (a
new MSW facility can take 3-4 years to site, build and become operational).
Where they do exist, they should be considered by grocers for composting.
The availability of an organic fraction from the grocery industry will be
added impetus for development of community based facilities.
The mixed organics method of collecting compostables should require little
or no change in supermarket operating methods since material separation is
accomplished on the other end by the receiver or end user.
All composting facilities need to use the best technology available to
ensure production of compost that is safe and marketable. Attention must
be given to the separation of compostable materials from recyclables and
noncompostable waste.
Many state and local governments, federal government through EPA and the
Solid Waste Composting Council (SWCC) are addressing composting. In
addition, composting. The GICSW should work with these entities toward
the common goal of developing composting as a viable solid waste
management tool.
In order to develop end markets, the grocery industry should demonstrate
and confirm the beneficial use of compost and aggressively promote the
marketing of the product, specifically to known end users. Product
standards and end markets for compost are in the early stages of
development. Standards for end-product quality do not exist on a federal
level but are beginning to be promulgated on a state-by-state basis.
Currently market development is planned or in progress in 11 states. The
GICSW should become involved in market development, establishing science-
based standards, ensuring product quality, establishing pilot programs and
supporting compost legislation. Specifically, the GICSW can play a role
in opening new outlets for compost in the agricultural community.
The industry should move towards setting and measuring attainment of goals
to support the development of composting, such as:
* The production of recyclable and/or compostable consumer packaging.
* The recovery, through composting, of an annually escalating
proportion of manufacturer and retailer wastes.
* The recovery, through composting, of an annually escalating
proportion of consumer wastes. The grocery industry should make a serious
effort to publicize the GICSW's environmental philosophy and actions, and
to educate consumers, the general public, the grocery industry and the
solid waste community. In all cases, the GICSW recommends extreme caution
against overstating any facts, expectations or interpretations.
The GICSW recommends that grocery manufacturers and retailers implement a
list of specific action items as soon as possible in order to promote
grocery industry composting.
Composting is an important emerging solid waste management method that
holds great promise for grocery manufacturers, retailers and communitites.
As the cost of disposal spirals upward, and the economics of composting
improve, composting is becoming an increasingly cost-effective means of
controlling waste expenses.
Composting is also a more environmentally responsible option than
landfilling and grocery customers are constantly raising their level of
expectations in favor of this kind of environmentally responsible behavior.
This report should facilitate the successful implementation of new
composting programs, and addresses policy issues that will support
composting nationwide.
3.0 ROLE OF THE GROCERY INDUSTRY
Significant Portion of the Waste System
As shown in Exhibit A, RIS estimates that 19.5 percent of the solid waste
generated directly or indirectly by the grocery industry by weight is food
waste. This analysis includes manufacturers and retailers, as well as
home waste from grocery shoppers. Containers and packaging represent a
significant portion of the waste stream, some of which is organic and can
be composted.
While a grocery manufacturer's compostable wastes are highly dependent
upon the products made by that manufacturer at any given site, the
compostable wastes from retailers are more consistent from one grocery
store to another. Keeping regional differences in mind, grocery store
compostable wastes include food waste, waxed and wet corrugated, bakery
waste, dairy products, produce, floral seafood. From January through
April 1991, FMI conducted a waste composition survey, with 27 food
retailers and wholesalers responding. The data represented in these
exhibits should serve only as a guide as waste compostion may vary
depending on store format and offering. The survey respondents were
separated into three groups:
* wholesalers (Exhibit B);
* large supermarket chains, definded as having more than 50 stores
(Exhibit C); and
* small supermarket chains having 50 or fewer stores (Exhibit D).
According to this survey, over 90 percent of the waste generated by each
of these categories is recyclable or compostable.
Small chains showed a large proportion of their wastes were comprised of
food wastes (43 percent). Wholesalers reported a small fraction of food
waste, since the wholesalers surveyed generally did not trim or process
perishable, unpackaged food as retailers often must do.
The small fraction of food waste (10 percent) among large chains is likely
due to the fact that many large chains have de facto wholesale facilities
in-house, and so the relative proportion of corrugated is greater. This
large corrugated proportion reduces the relative proportion for food waste
to only 10 percent. However, if dry, non-waxed corrugated containers
(OCC) are recycled, then between 75 percent and 90 percent of the
remaining waste is compostable food waste and paper. (This percentage
fluctuates depending upon how much wet and waxed OCC is available for
composting rather than recycling.) Thus, even for a "large chain" that
generates a relatively smaller percentage of food waste, the waste
actually being disposed is mostly compostable.
This task force believes that the composition shown for small chains
(Exhibit D) is most likely to represent the composition of most typical
retail grocery stores, excluding distribution and warehousing operations.
Accordingly, it is significant that such a large percentage-43 percent- of
this waste is compostable food waste. From a waste management perspective,
recycling of food waste via composting at the retail level is as important
as recycling corrugated boxes.
The FMI composition survey did not differentiate between recycled, wet or
waxed corrugated. Based on a sampling of three grocery stores in 1991, 70
percent of the corrugated containers are compostable (Exhibit E). These
statistics enabled the task force to estimate the volume of compostable
food waste, wet and waxed corrugated produced by grocery retailers at 6.6
million tons per year. *
The conclusion is that the grocery industry as a whole is a large producer
of wastes that are potentially very compostable. The compostable food
waste and corrugated alone from grocery stores comprise nearly 4 percent
of all municipal solid waste (MSW):
* Retail grocery food waste, compostable wet and waxed corrugated /all
MSW (EPA, 1990) = 6.6 million tons / 179.6 million tons = 3.7 percent.
Financial Significance of Compostable Wastes
Futhermore, disposal of these wastes is increasingly expensive. The
National Solid Waste Management Association (NSWMA) has not completed its
recent national landfill tip fee survey. However, extrapolating from the
1988 national average tip fee to 1991 based on the recent FMI disposal
expense survey yields an average tip fee of $58 per ton for landfills.
Tip fees for incinerators may be significantly higher. After adding a
conservative hauling charge of $15 per ton, grocery retailers alone are
paying $482 million each year to dispose of their compostable wastes:
* 6.6 million tons per year of compostable wastes X ($58/ton tip fee +
$15/ton hauling fee) = $481.8 million/year in grocery retailer disposal
expense.
To cover the expense needed to pay for their $482 million per year
disposal cost of compostable wastes, grocery retailers must, at an FMI-
estimated pre-tax net profit rate 14.3 percent of sales, sell $33.7
billion in groceries:
*$481.8 million disposal expense / 1.43 percent pre-tax net profit =
$33.7 billion in sales.
Because individual grocery manufacturers have such product-specific waste
streams, a similar expense for the industry overall is difficult to
estimate. However, it is clear that, for retailers and manufacturers, the
cost of disposal is spiraling upward. FMI documented a 26.6 percent
increase in disposal costs for its members in 1988 and a 29.2 percent
increase in 1989. This is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing expense
items for manufacturers and retailers.
It is interesting to note that by simply recycling corrugated boxes and
composting all compostable wastes, a grocery store can reduce the amount
of waste being landfilled by approximately by 89 percent (Exhibit D).
The Composting Option
Composting grocery store waste is an attractive option since this waste is
consistent in quality and quantity. These materials compost readily and
are especially effective when co-composted into existing programs with
yard waste, wood waste, manure, with other clean corrugated. However,
they are compostable and can provice necessary bulk to the composting
process.
By supporting and participationg in local composting operations, the
industry can serve to encourage broad-based development of composting as
an integral part of local solid waste management. Initially, pilot
projects could serve as working examples that composting can be
accomplished successfully in order to reduce the landfilling of grocery
industry wastes.
While grocery manufacturer and retailer wastes may be composted in a
segregated stream process, MSW composting is an important option for the
wider range of organic materials that are produced by other businesses and
by grocery consumers.
4.0 GROCERY INDUSTRY OBJECTIVES
The grocery industry can set an example for the community by practicing
sound recycling and composting activities. Some significant objectives
that the grocery industry can achieve by composting are:
1. Meeting demands of grocery consumers that stores and manufacturers be
environmentally responsible; 2. Proactively controlling waste disposal
tonnage and disposal expenses, which are increasing rapidly; 3.
Supporting EPA, state and local government initiatives for landfill
diversion and material recovery; 4. Encouraging and enhancing recycling
of other recyclable materials, such as plastic, wood, glass and metal
through improved separation; and 5. Making the best use of natural and
man-made resources by converting organic waste into compost instead of
landfilling them.
Downloaded from Recycling: America BBS (818) 902-1477
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