We're already seeing the effects of climate change today, from more frequent natural disasters to the rapid loss of polar ice, and it may be surprising to know that food waste is a huge contributor. It's estimated that around 40% of food in the United States is wasted, including over a million tons sent to landfills in 2016. EcoRich offers commercial composting solutions that can help your business reduce its impact.
What's Wrong With Traditional Food Waste Disposal?
Many think it's fine to simply put food waste in the bin since it will naturally decompose. However, when food waste is buried in landfills it breaks down without oxygen and releases tons of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Methane is more than 25 times as effective at trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide. The fact that it's also the second most abundant greenhouse gas means we need to reduce our production of it.
Transporting food waste to landfill sites also has environmental and financial costs that EcoRich helps businesses avoid.
Massachusetts Waste Recycling Initiative
To help combat climate change, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) introduced a ban in 2014 on the disposal of commercial organic waste for organizations producing at least one ton of waste per week. From November 2022, the ban will affect more businesses as the threshold is lowered to just half a ton of organic waste per week.
The initiative aims to move at least 35% of food waste away from landfills and into alternatives, such as composting, conversion, recycling and reuse. This presents a benefit to businesses as they can save on waste management costs and potentially purchasing costs too. Many businesses were already benefiting from these savings before the ban.
EcoRich
EcoRich is a company based on sustainability. We provide businesses with on-site commercial composters that can help reduce food waste and improve Massachusetts waste recycling. Our track record is proven, with over 300 commercial composters installed in eight countries. Current customers include:
- NYC Park Department
- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, CA
- City of Stamford
- Raritan Valley Community College, NJ
- Dunton Hot Spring Resort, CO
- North Coast Supermarket, CA
- YMCA Camp, MN
- Cenzino Restaurant, NJ
Our commercial composters are easy to use, odor-free and pest-resistant, so you can incorporate composting into your business as easily as possible. The composters produce a soil amendment that can be used to enrich your grounds or be sold for extra revenue. Commercial composting is an easy way to go green, reducing disposal costs and emissions with no harmful byproduct.
Elite II Composter
The EcoRich Elite II is one of our commercial composting solutions. It's highly effective, reducing food waste by up to 95% in 24 hours. You can use the soil amendment it produces for any soil on your site, or sell it. While you can load it up with waste every day, it only needs emptying every 8-10 days, so your employees can spend their time on more important tasks. What's more, it uses a variable frequency drive to reduce the amount of energy they use by around 15%.
We designed the Elite II with all kinds of businesses in mind so it makes minimal noise and can be installed indoors and outdoors. It's also available in different sizes to suit your business, with capacities ranging from 20 to 4000 pounds of food waste a day. Optional extras include automatic loading and automatic compost removal, as well as a crusher and a bucket and screw system for loading several times a day. This makes the composter versatile and suitable for all industries that need to comply with the MassDEP commercial organic waste ban, including:
- Educational institutions
- Health care organizations
- Sports and entertainment venues
- Hotels, resorts and casinos
- Company cafeterias
- Supermarkets and farmers' markets
- Apartment buildings
- Restaurants, cafes and coffee shops
Rapido 14 Days Rotary Composter
Our other commercial composting solution can also help businesses comply with Massachusetts food waste initiatives. The Rapido composter takes 14 days to produce output, but the compost is of higher quality and can be altered with additives. Microbes in the Rapido composter don't need to be recharged after 90 days and the machine produces its own heat through the process of composting.
While it does require sawdust and it takes up more space than the Elite II composter, when users are trained up it uses less energy and reduces food waste by up to 60%. Like the Elite II, the Rapido is odor-free and pest-free, with weather-resistant paneling allowing for both indoor and outdoor installation.
The Rapido composter makes minimal noise and comes with a built-in crusher, alongside safety interlocks to prevent accidents or damage to the machine. An automatic loader is available, but the composter is already easy to use:
- Separate organic and non-organic waste
- Drain excess water from the organic waste
- Add organic waste to the composter through the input door
- Add two teaspoons of compost starter for every batch of waste for the first three months of use
- Make sure to add sawdust or wood chips, around 20-40% of the volume of waste
- Ensure the maximum capacity isn't exceeded
- Press "Start Cycle" on the touch-screen control panel
- Collect compost after 14 days
The Benefits of Commercial Composting
Compost has many benefits. From improving the water retention of soil to suppressing diseases that may harm plant life, it's a valuable resource for any business with plants and even more valuable to agriculture businesses.
Compost can reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and promote higher yields of crops. It can also help reforestation and efforts to restore wetlands and revitalize natural habitats by improving contaminated soils, in addition to offering cost savings compared to traditional methods of remediating soil, water and air pollution.
The benefits of compost mean even if your business has no use for it, there's always somewhere you can sell it.
Why You Should Choose an EcoRich Commercial Composter
We're here to help businesses who, like us, want to become more sustainable. We offer several affordable purchasing and leasing options to make the transition to commercial composting as easy as possible.
If you're serious about going green with your business and decreasing your waste footprint, choose commercial composting. No matter your requirements, we can work with you to find custom solutions. Contact us today to see how we can help your business become more profitable and sustainable.
