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Recycling News
Publix super markets boosts organic recycling of food waste
Publix super markets has launched an innovative recycling collaboration in south Florida to dispose of waste and expired fruits, vegetables and meat.
Instead of the normal practice of dumping them in a landfill, the food waste is being converted into organic plant food or soil supplement at a Pompano Beach facility run by a local company, Organic Recovery.
Starting last week food waste from the meat, deli, produce and bakery departments of 56 Publix stores in Broward County is being sent to the plant for recycling. By mid-2009, that will expand to include all 237 Publix stores in all of south Florida, including Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Publix expects this will enable it to increase its recycling rate by 25 to 30 percent.
Organic Recovery's H2H (Harvest to Harvest) recycling process turns the waste food into a liquid plant food using an enzymatic digestion process. For every ton of food waste that ends up in the landfill, an equivalent of four tons of carbon enters the atmosphere, says Organic Recovery, which employs 26 people at the plant. The liquid fertilizer also eliminates the need for petroleum-based chemical fertilizer, a major contributor to global warming.
Publix is one of Florida's largest supermarket chains, with its headquarters in Lakeland. Organic Recovery says it is planning two additional facilities in Lakeland and Atlanta.
- David Adams
Posted by Times Editor at 9:42:04 AM on August 21, 2008
in Energy Efficiency & Conservation , Florida energy news , Miami and South Florida news | Permalink
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