VANCOUVER, B.C.—Micron Waste Technologies Inc., a leading developer of waste treatment systems for food and cannabis waste, announced an expanded collaboration with BC Research Inc. (BCRI) to facilitate rapid commercialization of the company’s second-generation food waste processing system. The new Organivore 2.0, designed for on-site waste processing for commercial producers of food waste, including supermarkets and food processors, producers and distributors, will combine new innovations developed for the Cannavore system, which Micron and BCRI purpose-built for the cannabis industry. Micron and BCRI will now rapidly install new technologies and applications into the Organivore 2.0, with market readiness anticipated in the second half of this year. A Clean Tech Solution...

NEW YORK—Nature’s Natural Solutions has announced that the Food Freshness Card has won the Gold Medal in the 2019 Edison Awards in the Food Tech Solutions. The award is the latest in a long list of awards and accolades the product has won since its launch just a few years ago. Father and son team, Rick and RJ Hassler, developed and patented the Food Freshness Card. They joined hundreds of senior executives from some of the world’s most recognized companies, including IBM, to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all the 2019 Edison Award winners at an April 4 event at The...

BOULDER, COLO.—Eco-Products announced a groundbreaking new line of molded fiber plates and containers. Vanguard, made from sugarcane, microwave friendly, and effective in both hot and cold applications, is also water and grease resistant. It has been designed to meet the requirements of the Biodegradable Product Institute for compostability certification that will go into effect on January 1, 2020. “Our goal has always been to provide a breadth of options for foodservice operators looking for environmentally preferable packaging,” said Sarah Martinez, Director of Marketing for Eco-Products. “The Vanguard line of products is another proud addition to our offering.” The Vanguard line uses proprietary alternative compounds to achieve grease-resistance performance. Creating...

NATIONAL REPORT—The amount of waste we’re producing globally is growing at an exponential rate. By 2025 we’re expected to be generating 2.2 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually—a prediction that stresses the need to develop and adopt new waste management strategies. When you combine this with the rising importance of switching to alternative energy sources in order to limit the effects of climate change, the waste-to-energy industry stands out as being at the forefront of addressing both challenges. While it remains under-utilized in a world still relying on landfill and fossil fuels, we are likely to see the sector grow stronger in the near future. How Do Waste-to-Energy...

SAN JOSE, CALIF.—At this year’s Hotelier Maldives GM Forum, Iain Milnes, President of Power Knot, explained why the proper disposal of waste food is essential for hotels and resorts that are committed to sustainable operations and a low carbon footprint. High-end tourist destinations, which are often located on or near pristine ecological environments, are among the top producers of food waste—statistics show that some resorts generate more than 3lbs (1.5kg) of food waste per meal. The GM Forum—the only dedicated gathering for hotel managers in the Maldives—is an annual gathering of general managers and hospitality industry stakeholders. This year, presentations and panel discussions at the GM...

After posting my recent article on water that is available in boxed cartons, I heard from Nicole Doucet, the co-founder and CEO of Chicago-based Open Water, a bottled water company that uses aluminum packaging as a more sustainable alternative to plastic bottled water. Nicole sent me a document that explains more about the bottled water her company sells. First, according to Open Water, the upside to aluminum is that it can be recycled over and over without losing volume or quality. Aluminum gets recycled more than cartons and other recyclables. Plastic...

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS—During the past two years an enthusiastic team of teachers and students have saved almost 40,000 kilos of food, which has been turned into delicious dishes and products. Recently, this team organized a Food Rescue Market to make the new students aware of food waste and to introduce them to the way Hotelschool encounters this. Ten different food rescue companies participated in the market, giving students the opportunity to taste dishes made of rescued food. Special guest at this market was a buck named Walter. Male goats are usually...

BOCA RATON, FLA.—FarFromBoring Hospitality continues to make headlines, eliminating the need for plastic straws by recently signing on to provide discerning clientele at three nationally recognized establishments with a high-quality, paper straw alternative. With eco-friendly, strong and reasonably-priced Rhino Paper Straws that are unique in color and design, the Boca Raton company is meeting the demand for local product availability while making a global difference. Three hospitality companies will now use Rhino Paper Straws to help reduce the more than 500 million plastic straws that Americans use every day, which pollute our oceans and are ingested by sea birds, turtles and other marine life. The...

They may not be the perfect solution to water container pollution but paper-based products—whether in cartons or bottles—are so much better than their plastic alternatives. This past week I posted an article about four companies that now offer water in cartons or bottles that are primarily made from paper—a renewable resource. If you are currently still giving your guests or staff plastic water bottles, I challenge you to sample the water containers featured in my article. Something has got to be done to stop the proliferation of plastic bottles. Sixty-nine billion bottles are created each year and 38 billion of...

NATIONAL REPORT—With all the attention given to plastic straws, stirrer sticks and cutlery over the past year, not enough attention has been given to plastic water bottle alternatives. Green Lodging News has reported on water filtration systems and glass bottle delivery of that water within the hotel. That approach is a great idea but can make only a tiny dent in the overall plastic bottle waste problem. According to Rob Koenen, Chief Marketing Officer for Boxed Water Is Better®, 69 billion bottles are created each year and 38 billion of them go into oceans and landfills. Up to 90...