Eco-Products launches foodservice composting program

Eco-Products, Boulder, Colorado, has launched a new program to help foodservice operators keep noncompostable items out of organics streams.

The program, Controls Intended to Remove Contamination (CIRC), will verify restaurants and other operators are taking steps to prevent noncompostable materials from being sent to composting facilities.

While food scraps, yard trimmings and certified compostable packaging can be composted, anything else creates serious problems for composters, Eco-Products says.

“Contamination from non-compostable products is the defining challenge for many composters today,” says Wendell Simonson, director of marketing at Eco-Products. “Unfortunately, most composters have an extremely limited ability to deal with contamination once it gets to their facilities. That's why foodservice operators must put controls in place to prevent that contamination from ever getting to composters in the first place.”

CIRC features scorecards that foodservice operators will use to show composters and haulers that the necessary controls are in place to generate contaminant-free organics streams. The scorecard is divided into four sections, procurement, operations, communications and hauler engagement, containing criteria and conditions that are either required or encouraged by composters.

The scorecards will present foodservice operators with the following questions:

• Is there an ordering guide in place for compostable products that has been approved by the composter?
• Is there an agreement in place with the distributor to stock all items on the ordering guide?
• Are employees actively engaged in the management of waste streams?
• Do guests receive clear instructions regarding how to discard compostable and non-compostable foodservice items?
• Is messaging provided in the venue and through labeling on compostable items?
• Is there an onsite sorting process in place to inspect all organics streams before they are picked up by the hauler?

The program will be “open sourced,” meaning the scorecards and other supporting materials will be available to anyone interested in using them, and Eco-Products will not be charging a fee to participate.

Eco-Products says individual composting facilities will be able to determine their own "passing" scores and which conditions are required or encouraged.

“Organics diversion at scale in the foodservice industry is impossible without composter willingness to accept and process postconsumer food scraps and certified packaging,” Simonson says. “An operator-driven systems approach to contamination mitigation is long overdue.”