The majority of food in our local waste stream doesn’t come from our dinner plates, but instead from commercial operations such as grocery stores and food distributors that dispose of large quantities of spoiled foods on a regular basis.

In 2003, Sarasota County collaborated with Resource Management Group to take composting a step further and research the possibilities for recycling food waste at the municipal level. The “Food Waste Recovery Pilot Project,” funded though an Innovative Recycling Grant from Florida Department of Environmental Protection, was an exciting research experiment in industrial-scale organic waste management.

From May through September of 2003, the food recovery team collected discarded, rotten and half-eaten food from three Publix grocery stores, two Venice restaurants, a hospital, and All Faiths Food Bank. The food waste, which consisted mainly of fruits and vegetables, was mixed with yard waste materials and composted within the experimental Ag-Bag eco POD system.

The result of this process is a dark earthy humus prime for application as a fertilizer for farm crops or landscaping. Besides producing a nutrient-rich compost for Sarasota County residents, food waste recycling has serious potential for reducing our municipal waste stream. In Sarasota County, food waste constitutes 17 percent of our waste stream, compared with the state average of 10 percent. By recovering this waste and recycling it into a useful, value-added product, Sarasota County is completing the nutrient cycle and producing a renewable resource. With an abundance of local restaurants plus proximity to prime regions for agricultural and horticultural operations, food waste composting could well be the next frontier in waste management for Sarasota County.