The Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority has been awarded over $1.34 million in grant funding from the Department of Resource, Recycling, and Recovery for a new composting operation while also providing for a new refrigerated truck for the Food Bank.
The cooperative grant project aims to reduce organic materials from entering the landfill, recover edible food to feed those who are in need and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
The organic recovery system will be the first of its kind in the Salinas Valley and will help achieve compliance with state mandates for Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling and the Short-lived Climate Pollutants & Methane Emission Reduction Act.
“… It will provide outlets for all food waste generating sectors – from industrial to residential,” said Patrick Mathews, Salinas Valley Recycles’ chief administrative officer.
Though no full-scale food waste composting facilities currently exist in Salinas Valley, Mathews said, “The new composting operation will replace the existing organics operation at our Johnson Canyon Landfill.”
The construction of the facility, along with technology that separates non-marketable organic produce from its packaging to be composted, and an edible food rescue program, will allow Salinas Valley Recycling to significantly increase the diversion of food waste generated by local farmers, businesses and residents from being sent to the landfill, according to a press release from the solid waste authority.
An estimated 22,000 tons of waste will be diverted from the landfill under the cooperative grant project by upgrading current operations and infrastructure at the landfill to include a full-scale food waste composting operation, and the de-packaging equipment.
The grant’s food rescue component consists of purchasing the Food Bank for Monterey County’s new truck which will be used to rescue edible food from existing and new agricultural and retail donors, that would otherwise end up in the landfill, and distribute it to residents in need within Monterey County.
The Food Bank covers about 3,500 square miles, and feeds one in five county residents, half of which are children.
“We have been trying to replenish the fleet … this will help make us whole,” said Melissa Kendrick, executive director of the Food Bank for Monterey County.
The Food Bank lost its entire fleet of trucks in a 2015 fire and part of the grant project will be to allocate about $73,000 toward the purchase of a new fuel-efficient, refrigerated truck for the agency.
Kendrick said the new truck will be one of six trucks of varying sizes that the food bank uses to collect from retail stores, supermarkets, agriculture donors, or anyplace that produces food in the county.
The food bank will establish regular dates and locations for qualifying families to pick up the excess food donated to the bank.
“Before the incident we were struggling to meet collection demands due to insufficient capacity. The purchase of the refrigerated truck will help us with our capacity needs, as well as allow the recovered food to feed those who need it the most and prevent it from being landfilled,” said Kendrick, in the release.
Mathews said the project will also create two new positions.
The increased cost for the project and staffing is related to the new state permitting requirements that are more stringent and costly when food waste is added to a composting operation.
Mathews said the incentive payments in the grant allow the solid waste authority to gradually raise the processing costs over the three-year grant period at which point the program will be fully self-funded through the rates.
State laws, AB 1826 and SB 1383 are the regulatory drivers for this expansion of the organics management system, Mathews said.
To read the full story, visit http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20171002/NEWS/171009972.