My family has always composted our yard variety compostables such as leaves, plants and flowers that have seen better days. It was not until this past week—I am somewhat ashamed to say as the editor of Green Lodging News—that we started to compost our food waste. My wife purchased a barrel composter that is reducing our food “waste” to a very usable soil addition. I must add that taking this waste to the composter is a very good reminder not to waste so much food the next time. Maybe you can relate.
It was good timing for the home-based composter because I posted an article this past week on biodigesters that convert food scraps to a drainable fluid. I have been a big fan of these machines for years and consider them no brainers on the level of LED light bulbs, ozone laundry technology, and guestroom energy management systems. Many of you are aware that there are also biodigesters that convert food scraps to a dry soil amendment. I will save that story for another day.
It is important to revisit technologies such as biodigesters every now and then because the technology changes. The machines rely on microorganisms to break down the food but the material that houses those microorganisms is changing.
Power Knot’s LFC biodigesters use either black plastic Powerchips or the recently released Powerchips Green to speed up the digestion rate of food waste in LFC biodigesters. Powerchips Green are made 100 percent from plant-based organic material. Similarly, Orca has been using a polypropylene biochip but just came out with a natural Tagua nut alternative which does the same job as the polypropylene biochip. The nuts are harvested from the Phytelephas Macrocarpa palm tree after they are ripe and have fallen to the ground which means no damage is done to the rainforest during the production process. These advancements by both companies are better for the environment.
Reporting Made More Robust
Power Knot and Orca have also bolstered their reporting capabilities in recent years. What each offers varies but one can track everything from the CO2 equivalent diverted from the landfill to the weight of specific food waste streams to who used the machine at a particular time.
Earlier this year, Power Knot announced that Dubai Creative Group and it had collaborated with Microsoft Dubai to create the first solar-powered biodigester in the world. Very cool.
It is estimated that about one-third of the world’s food is thrown away. Most of that is from households but food service is the second biggest contributor. Food waste can be a huge problem for the environment. In a report published last year, the EPA estimated that food loss and waste embodies 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHG emissions (excluding landfill emissions)—equal to the annual CO2 emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants.
If your property is generating a fair to significant amount of food waste, I strongly consider chatting with the suppliers mentioned above about how a biodigester can help. I guarantee you will never look at your incoming and outgoing food supply the same again.
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… and, as you may well know, the Black Sheep Inn Ecolodge Ecuador has even been composting human waste since it’s inception. Maybe mainstream hotels are not ready for this simple process, but we have been successful at it since 1995.