Environmental FAQs (click on question to see answer)
Does OR’s process help customers and municipalities reach their recycling goals?
According to the US EPA, the Americans generated 31 million tons of food waste in 2006, or 12% of the 250 million tons of total waste for the period. 98% of food waste is sent to landfills, with most of the remaining 2% diverted to composting facilities. There is enormous potential to increase recycling of food wastes through the use of OR’s process.
With the 2010 law initiated to reduce greenhouse gases 10%, is OR’s technology in line with the program?
OR’s process certainly assists municipalities and companies in meeting greenhouse gas emissions goals as it prevents the formation of greenhouse gases. Current methods of disposal of food residuals like landfilling and waste to energy emit copious quantities of greenhouse gases. OR’s process captures the carbon content in food waste and returns it into the ground, in the form of a highly effective soil amendment product.
What are the benefits to the environment using the OR technology?
Benefits include:
- Preventing greenhouse gas emissions - providing an alternative to landfilling and other methods of waste handling that generate methane and other greenhouse gas emissions
- Recycling a “waste material” into a useful product that has valuable environmental properties
- Assisting businesses and municipalities in preventing bad odors and pest attractants (prevents health and safety hazards)
- OR’s facilities use existing building and warehouses – creating a smaller environmental footprint in construction of the facilities
- OR’s process uses significantly less energy, no extra water and other materials to produce the soil amendment product
- All activities are conducted under cover so all materials can be collected and treated under controlled conditions
- Converting the maximum nutrient value of the food residuals into the soil amendment – returning it back to the earth
- The soil amendment products are an environmentally safe alternative to petrochemical based fertilizers, and reduce America’s dependence on imported oil
- Unlike petrochemical fertilizers, the food hydrolysate will not leach out of the soil and contaminate ground water
- Petrochemical fertilizers are the #3 contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Food hydrolysate creates no greenhouse gases when used as a soil amendment.
- Increasing carbon sequestration by applying the soil amendments on the soil
- Building healthy soils by releasing nutrients from the soil amendments. Increasing nutrient value to the plants and crops, reducing water demand, reducing need for herbicides and pesticides
- Increasing recycling; reducing use of landfills and waste to energy facilities; meeting waste reduction and recycling goals
- Extending the life of landfills and extending capacity of waste to energy facilities
Will this process reduce the amount of food that goes to food banks or the Reharvest program in place at most large food chain stores?
No. OR encourages companies to continue their efforts to divert usable food to food banks. This is the highest and best use for foods that cannot be sold. OR focuses on food residuals that are unfit for human consumption, and that cannot be donated to food banks.
OR’s program typically is an addition to recycling and food donation programs in place at large grocery stores.
In addition, OR has assisted in increasing food donation programs during heavy seasons by donating its refrigerated collection service.
Can all recyclable products be put into the OR container for processing?
All organic products can be put into the OR container. Recyclable materials like plastics, glass and metals cannot be placed in the OR containers – they are considered contaminants.
These materials can be recycled in most conventional recycling programs.
Like any standing trash there are liabilities to storing food - rodents, methane gas, and odors. How does using OR contribute to solving this problem?
OR’s containers prevent the stored food residuals from decomposing (or rotting), which prevents the formation of the bad odors and resultant pest attractants. OR picks up the filled collection containers several times per week. The containers are picked up in refrigerated trucks. This also prevents the stored residuals from starting the decomposition process.
