eCorect on Fox News
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FOX 7 eTeam: Food Composter
UT turns food waste into eco-friendly compost
Last Edited: Monday, 09 Mar 2009, 8:47 PM CDT
Created On: Tuesday, 03 Mar 2009, 5:06 PM CST
AUSTIN - Let's face it. Who wouldn't take advantage of an all-you-can eat cafeteria? Especially if you're a college student away from home. But sometimes, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and we don't eat everything on the tray.
UT's Kinsolving Dormitory cafeteria is testing a new device that could totally change what happens to half-eaten breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.You really have to see it to believe it.
A big chunk of the food that doesn't get eaten here -- it doesn't just go in the trash, it becomes a compost-like substance and it's something you can put on your garden.According to UT, during any given year, more than 100 tons of edible food gets wasted in their two resident dining halls.
That's a lot of trash. So how does it work? Workers clear-off the trays, then food waste shoots down a waterway into a machine that removes water from the scraps.That's nothing new, but a new machine called "eCorect,", dehydrates the pulped food. "Kind of fast-composting, is what I would call it," said Scott Meyer of UT's Housing and Food Services department.
"It's not really compost when it's finished, but it's real close and it actually could be used at that point as a soil amendment."It gets broken down into a tobacco-like substance, and it means less trash goes to a landfill."By the time it's at this stage, it's been reduced by about 95 percent in weight and volume," said Meyer.
UT is working on ways to get the dehydrated food waste to local farmers, who can use it to grow more food or as livestock feed. But the machines are expensive. There's no room in the budget, but the university does plan to eventually purchase them.
Food Recycle Science said the cost of the machines can be offset greatly by reduced waste-hauling costs.The University of Texas said its already reduced its food waste by about 30 percent, and they hope to reduce waste even further by getting rid of food trays in cafeterias.
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eCorect story on King 5 TV News
Resort composts restaurant leftovers
For more: visit http://www.foodrecycle.org/04News/02news.php?id=frsmedia
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The "Green" at This Restaurant Isn't Just on The Plates
Fox TV2 Detroit "In the News"
For Mike Plesz, owner of the new Mind, Body & Spirits restaurant in Rochester, Mich., if you talk the talk you should walk the walk. In addition to serving organic and gluten-free food on the menu, this self-proclaimed member of the “green revolution” made a multi-million dollar investment to have his restaurant showcase the very latest in energy saving and recycled technologies.
This commitment meant retaining some of the details of the building from 1890 when it was built, like the brick, marble and crown molding, to using materials like barn wood and recycled plastic. The paints used throughout were non-VOC. And the seats were made from sunflower husks.
“Trying to incorporate the latest green technologies is relatively easy in a home or school,” explained Matt Roman, the environmental awareness director for the restaurant. “In a restaurant, people are coming in and out on a regular basis. Restaurants are huge users of energy. They also generate an enormous amount of waste.”
To answer the first problem - maintaining comfortable temperatures - Roman specified geothermal heating and cooling from 20 wells. In the solar greenhouse (which grows a good portion of the herbs and produce used in the restaurant) there are two, large 1.5 foot tubes filled with water that absorb the heat from the sun in the day and release it at night. A “trombe” wall next to the kitchen does the same function.
The crew at Mind, Body & Sprits also took an equally innovative route with food waste management. “We didn’t want a big, ugly trash bin out back filled with food scraps, when that waste could instead be used to make compost,” said Roman.
After investigating several different processes, Roman finally selected an eCorect® high-speed, food waste recycling machine. The eCorect machine rapidly dehydrates food waste along with compostable disposables, producing a humus-rich soil amendment without the use of enzymes, fresh water or venting and with no other byproducts, resulting in zero sewer and landfill impact.
“We had seen Somat (eCorect US distributor) at conferences and we knew who they were. It’s only been here a short time, but so far everything is working out well,” says Roman.
The eCorect machine reduces the weight and volume of food waste and scraps by 80 to 90 percent and recycles those food wastes into a high-quality organic soil amendment in less than 24 hours. Featuring an integrated revolutionary odor management system and high-efficiency heat recovery system, the eCorect can be fed any type of food waste and has zero landfill impact.
In the winter, the restaurant gives the soil amendment to local golf courses. In the spring they intend to give it to food suppliers to add to their finished food compost piles. “We also have had some of our waitstaff ask to take it home for their gardens,” said Roman.
Since the eCorect food waste recycler has only been at Mind, Body & Spirits for a short time, Roman says it is impossible to evaluate the economic benefit it delivers from reduced energy costs and tipping fees. And, for an ecologically concious organization like theirs, perhaps that’s not the best measure.
“Mike wanted to create a restaurant where the healthiness of the food was equaled by the responsibility we took towards the environment. I think we’ve succeeded,” concluded Roman.
For video, click Fox2 News Clip "In the News"
http:///www.mindbodyspirits.com/mbs/
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eCorect Cover Story at Marriott :
Cover Story, Food Equipment Report June 20, 2008
When the Marriott South Bay in Torrance, CA, began looking for a new, eco-friendly way to decompose foodservice waste, it relied on Marriott Intl’s corporate policy of Environmentally Conscious Hospitality Operations, or ECHO, for guidance.
The ECHO policy has led many Marriott properties to replace existing heating, ventilating and cooling equipment with more efficient models, and Marriott has long emphasized the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra throughout its properties. For the Marriott South Bay’s foodservice operations, the new eCorect fits the ECHO strategy nicely. The Torrance property today processes 220 lbs of waste – food plus some paper and cardboard – per day and achieves a 95% reduction in both weight and volume, says Silvano Merlo, assistant general manager.
Even better, says Merlo, “the eCorect process produces a reusable by-product, a soil amendment that can then be used by grounds keepers to fertilize flower and plant beds around the property.” ”The eCorect machine features an integrated revolutionary odor management system that produces a minimal, even pleasant odor during operation” according to Chef Anthony Bencomo at Marriott South Bay, the largest Marriott in S. Calif. Bencomo states that “the eCorect‘s high-efficiency heat recovery system, costs them approximately $50 a month to reduce 4500 lbs. of food by 95% producing 225 lbs. of soil amendment that their employees take home to put on their gardens, plants and shrubs.”
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California Senator Bill 1020 Sets a New Diversion Goal of 75% by 2012
This bill, commencing in 2012, requirs local jurisdictions to meet a new goal of diverting 75% of solid waste from disposal or transformation through source reduction, recycling, and composting....
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RESOLUTION FOR 75% WASTE DIVERSION GOAL,SAN FRANCISCO
Resolution adopting a gal of 75% landfill diversion by the year 2010 and a long term goal of zero wate, with the date set by the San Francisco Commission on the Environment ...
