Maximizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions through Food Waste Diversion

Humboldt County, California

Federal Funding: $200,000
Project Timeline: February 2011 – February 2013

Project Summary
Community Characteristics
Program Results/Estimated Results
Project Website
Media Coverage
Photo

Project Summary

A Pilot Program to Assess and Maximize Food Waste Diversion Collection Strategies

The Humboldt Waste Management Authority (HWMA) is continuing efforts to divert food waste from landfills. HWMA continued contacting commercial and industrial early adopters that may be interested in the food waste diversion project. HWMA continued work with Humboldt State University (HSU), the first early adopter, to implement the food waste diversion program in the campus dining services areas. The food waste diversion program at HSU involves using campus dining facility staff (trained by HWMA staff and Environmental Science Associates) to handle the food waste. Student volunteers will help educate their peers on the program, and Arcata Garbage, the City of Arcata’s franchise garbage hauler, will collect the campus food waste. Furthermore, HWMA has begun working with Recology to execute the pilot collection program for the City of Eureka and has developed a program brochure, education materials, and a participant recognition campaign.

As new landfills have become more challenging to permit, and as old landfills reach the end of their useful life, municipalities are increasingly reliant on larger landfills located outside the jurisdiction's borders. In Humboldt County's case, the landfills are an average of 180 miles away. The Humboldt Waste Management Authority (HWMA) is developing a project that will create an efficient food waste collection program that maximizes the GHG reductions achieved from food waste diversion—reducing emissions via diverting food waste from landfills, reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and using biogas to offset fossil fuel use.

HWMA has already identified commercial and industrial entities interested in food waste collection. HWMA staff will begin the project by contacting these groups and identifying 50 "early adopters" that will work with HWMA to develop on-site food separation systems. HWMA staff will also receive training on how to support the early adopters and work with the institutions to maintain a high rate of food waste diversion. HWMA will continuously measure the quantity of food waste collected at each location, perform on-site waste audits, and use this data to set a baseline food waste collection strategy and model the project's performance over time.

In addition to improved food waste diversion from commercial and industrial establishments, the project will create a GIS mapping tool that will help organizations model and analyze efficient food waste collection strategies. The tool will incorporate the amount of food waste collected, the trash bin size and frequency of pickup, and the location of the future anaerobic digesters. The tool will be used to model and compare the changes in GHG emissions for three different food waste collection approaches. This tool will be used to establish a one-year pilot program with the 50 early adopters to determine the best food collection strategy for their site and track their results over the pilot period. The three food waste collection options in consideration are 1) reduced trash collection service requirements, 2) dual stream collection trucks, and 3) bi-monthly garbage collection in conjunction with food waste collection up to three times per week.

In addition to the GIS mapping tool, the project will prepare a food waste resource assessment "tool-kit" and develop commercial food waste diversion program guidelines. Other communities interested in developing a food waste diversion program can use these tools to help develop efficient food waste collection systems in order to reduce the GHG emissions impact associated with waste management.

Community Characteristics

Population:	130,000
Area:	3,572 square miles
Government Type:	County Waste Management Authority
Community Type:	Urban and Suburban
Median Household Income:	$39,124

Program Results/Estimated Results

Expected GHG Reductions:	1,727 metric tons CO₂e annually
Expected Waste Diverted:	2360 metric tons annually
Expected VMT Reduction:	42,000 miles annually