California Integrated Waste Management Board

Food Scrap Management

Food Scrap Reduction Case Studies

Food Scrap Diversion Contracts for 2000

Pilot food scrap diversion programs were implemented in several school cafeterias, a food bank, and a large outdoor event venue that host concerts and tennis championship games. Each program experienced its own successes and challenges. In several cases, the collection of food scraps was a precursor to collecting other recyclables as well. 

The City of San Francisco Recycling Program implemented food scrap collection programs at five local schools. The four participating elementary schools diverted a total of 1700 pounds of organic waste per week. The fifth school, a private high school, was able to reduce the number of bins used for collection by 50 percent. With the help of the program's subcontractor, each of the schools designed a food scrap program that encompassed education, outreach, organics collection for offsite composting, and some vermicomposting.
Final report: Word 97/2000, 80 KB | Adobe PDF, 113 KB

The Davis Joint Unified School District piloted comprehensive food waste diversion projects at three elementary schools. Two schools reduced their total waste stream by at least 40 percent. The third school has the potential to decrease its waste stream by 20 percent if the program continues. The programs included: a switch to the "offer versus serve" method to serve food, food rescue efforts, recycling, and the collection of organic waste for on-site composting and vermicomposting systems. The contract accomplished the goals of integrating the composting and vermicomposting systems into the school garden program, as part of a larger farm-to-school vision.
Final report: Word 97/2000, 245 KB | Adobe PDF, 168 KB

The West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority and one elementary school piloted a food waste reduction program that included extensive recycling training. The program involved the separation of lunch waste materials in the cafeteria for offsite composting; the experimental use of biodegradable utensils, and some recycling of aluminum lunch trays. Unfortunately, although the school cafeteria was able to reduce its waste up to 40 percent, the program will not continue into the next school year.
Final report: Word 97/2000, 3.5 MB | Adobe PDF, 2.2 MB

The Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works, in partnership with the California Grey Bears and Organic Recyclers Anonymous, set up two Earth Tub™ in-vessel composting systems at the California Grey Bears’ food bank in Santa Cruz. Earth Tubs™ are a mid-scale composting option, appropriate for grocery stores, restaurants, and institutions generating 50 or more pounds of food scraps per day. The program diverted over 11 tons of food scraps from the landfill and it is projected that 28.91 tons could be diverted annually. As an added benefit, the compost that was generated from the Earth Tubs™ was made available for volunteers to use and as a salable item for the facility. Final report: Word 97/2000, 1.4 MB | Adobe PDF, 673 KB

The City of Indian Wells, in coordination with the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens and EcoNomics, Inc., piloted a food scrap diversion program at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens. Food scraps were collected for offsite composting, and the finished compost will be used at the Tennis Gardens in the future. The project provided data on the costs, benefits, diversion potential, and viability of a very large-scale food scrap diversion program. This facility is located on 189 acres and has stadium seating for over 16,000 guests. In addition to the Tennis Masters Series (with a year 2001 attendance of over 190,000 for the two week event), the project diverted food scraps from two additional one-night concert events totaling over 8.13 tons. In all cases, for the three different events, food scrap diversion proved to be both feasible and economically viable.
Final report: Word 97/2000, 55 KB | Adobe PDF, 100 KB
Video: (Windows Media, 6 minutes)

For additional information and updates on these five projects, contact Terry Brennan.

WRAP Winners

The following are short case studies or press releases about companies that have earned Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) recognition from the Board for their food (and other) waste reduction efforts.

For information on additional WRAP winners in the food service industry, search the Board's WRAP database. Under "Business Type" choose "Services - Food/Beverage."

Reuse Grant Recipients

The City of Lomita was recently awarded a grant from the CIWMB to divert edible food not sold at restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other establishments from landfills. The food will go to Food Finders, a nonprofit organization that will allocate this food to organizations that help meet the nutritional needs of impoverished persons. Grant funds will be used to expand an existing program to provide services to the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, partnering with the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, City of Torrance, and City of Redondo Beach.

The Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority also received funding of which a portion will be used for purchasing an energy-efficient refrigerator for a Food Bank program run by a local nonprofit organization, the Community Assistance Network. Learn more about the Reuse Assistance Grants program.

Additional Case Studies

Don't Throw Away That Food, published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, highlights nine food diversion programs at institutions, schools, and businesses.