A new food waste depacking system has made its way to the Teton County Compost Facility. The food waste de-packager called, the “Tiger Depack”, is designed to remove up to 99.5% of contaminants from the food waste stream, resulting in a higher quality finished compost product and fewer operational staff hours. The Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved the purchase and installmentof the system in May 2021.
Brenda Ashworth, Superintendent of Solid Waste and Recycling at ISWR, explained, “the system is specifically designed to remove bags.” She urges those wishing to compost to do their best to remove as many contaminants as possible before dropping off their compost. “Right now anyone can bring compost to us at the trash transfer station,” said Ashworth. This includes commercial compost and residential compost.
In 2019, Teton County voters approved $2.5 million in SPET funding for the road to Zero Waste Infrastructure. The infrastructure improvements include the purchase and installation of this food waste de-packaging system at the Teton County Compost Facility.