In a report published in Journal News, Miami University has devised a way to reduce food waste at the same time save money. They are actually using their waste in order to save money.
The university is said to have invested in numerous energy-saving initiatives including a $30,000 to $50,000 worth of machine that turns the food waste in Garden Commons dining hall into waste water that won't create obstructions in the landfill.
The eco-friendly waste disposal machine is called EnviroPure. This large machine looks like giant freezer however it actually contains a special mixture that breaks down the food waste. As seen in their website, the systems work through a combination of continuous mechanical processing of the food waste, tightly controlled environment conditions to maintain aerobic decomposition and hper-accelaration of the decomposing process through the addition of BioMix additive.
According to Tina Rotundo, an executive manager of dining, "In every food service operation, you always have waste. We try our best to reduce that waste at Miami University ... that waste has to go somewhere."
Miami had previously used dehydrators. The process includes turning food waste, dishes and food remnants into pulp then transfers this pulp into a box that is heated to form a more compact substance. This system however uses a lot of electricity and the by-product is required to be disposed at least 100 miles from the campus. It was proven to be labor-intensive and inefficient, Tina said.
Miami then decided to do a research and later found out about EnviroPure. The Ohio State University has been adapting this system already, said Matt Frericks, the directory of auxiliary planning and facilities. The machine can actually digest bones, meat, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, rice, pasta, baked goods, coffe grinds, eggshells and dairy products.
Using this new system, the food waste and trash went down to the machine. It has a 600-gallon tank of water on one side and a drum of special biomix on the other side. The mix dissolves the waste into water. According to EnviroPure, for every 100 pounds of food waste digested, the system will generate approximately 10 gallons of water.
"There's no handling it, there's no smell, there's no issues with it whatsoever," Rotundo said. "We're reducing what we send to the landfill. That's one thing we're always looking at the university, how we can reduce waste. It saves labor and utilities. There's a lot of savings to that."
If the EnviroPure machine proves to be successful, the system will also be adapted at Armstrong Student Center and in the dining facilities in North Quad, Frericks said.
