Rutgers Solid Waste Group Hosts Sussex County Food Waste Forum

On April 30, 2010, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority will host a free food waste recycling forum at the Sussex County Community College. The forum is the last in a series of 17 county-based educational programs conducted by the Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group (SWRRG), a unit at Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. The forum will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will take place in the Small Theater, Building D, 1 College Hill Road, in Newton, New Jersey.

Food waste can be processed into a variety of everyday products, from soil amendments and fertilizers to fuel which can be used for vehicles or producing electricity. The Sussex forum will familiarize participants with the various facilities being developed around the state, as well as the options available to participants who want to process their own waste on site. The forum will include a segment on donation to food banks and all participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food item for the NORWESCAP Food Bank.

“More and more companies are seeing that New Jersey is the place to collect and use food waste since we have so much of it,” said Priscilla Hayes, director of SWRRG. “Companies like Ag Choice, a state of the art composting company located in Andover, New Jersey, and Converted Organics, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, offer us places to which you can have your food waste hauled. But there are exciting ways to process your food waste into things like usable compost, right on your own site. Now is the time to choose how you can best save money and greenhouse gases at the same time.”

The forum offers a quick and easy way to learn how a generator of food waste can create its own successful food waste recycling program. Hayes will team up with Michael Manna of Organic Recycling Solutions, LLC, to introduce food waste recycling separation basics and how to do a waste audit.  Dr. Nick Smith-Sebasto of Kean University will speak on food waste statistics across the country. Lorraine Graves of the United States Environmental Protection Agency will speak on the benefits of WasteWise, a free program which will convert your food waste recycling numbers into greenhouse gas reductions. 

The forum will also include presentations by the various haulers and facilities that accept food waste as well as representatives of various commercial systems for processing waste right on site. For free registration, contact Ellen Vastola, Rutgers University, at vastola@aesop.rutgers.edu.

 About the Rutgers Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group

For over 10 years, the SWRRG at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station has provided leadership and coordination in innovative waste reduction, green purchasing and recycling of food waste, computers, fluorescent light bulbs, mercury-containing devices and waste paint. Through the only New Jersey-wide food residuals recycling initiative, SWRRG has brought together waste generators, recyclers and local government to find optimal ways of diverting food waste away from landfills and into the production of energy and soil amendments, which are vitally needed in the state and adjoining region. The group has provided research and outreach to entrepreneurs, generators and other stakeholders. SWRRG was awarded a 2009 Environmental Quality Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2.