Best of Earth911 Podcast: Hungry Giant’s Chris O’Brien on Reducing Institutional Food Waste
How can we eliminate food waste created by restaurants, institutional cafeterias, and retail grocers? According to the National Conference of State Legislators, food waste is a plague in our supply chains. Farms contribute 16% of total food waste and businesses another 39%, while households are responsible for 43% of food waste. Chris O’Brien joined the podcast to discuss processing food waste into a soil supplement, fuel source, and animal feed. He is the founder and CEO of Hungry Giant Waste Systems, which distributes bio-grinders and bio-dehydrators that grind and dry food waste generated by restaurants, cafeterias, and grocers. It’s a scaled-up, industrial version of the Lomi Home Composter, which we discussed in a recent episode.
Hungry Giant Waste Systems, is our guest on Sustainability in Your Ear.
Chris contributed a new article on Earth911, Restaurants, Cafeterias, Grocers Can Turn Food Waste Into Food Value. Businesses need new tools and processes to reduce waste and the CO2 emissions created when food rots in landfills. Drying food waste also reduces the frequency with which waste haulers must visit a food service company, contributing to lower CO2 emissions. Chris and Mitch Ratcliffe explore how bio-grinders and bio-digesters might also help process compostable service items in restaurants, as well as the questions you can ask at the grocery store or a quick service restaurant to encourage them to turn unused food into a low-carbon alternative to today’s methane-emitting wet waste.
You can learn more about Hungry Giant at hungrygiantrecycling.com.
This podcast originally aired on February 10, 2023.
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