| Source
Newsletter fall 1998 |
|
 |
Food
Donate
excess or damaged food products. Donating food increases community
well being and promotes corporate responsibility. It also
can improve community and employee morale.
Celebrate
Success: Supervalu, Inc.,
a supplier of grocery products to more than 255 supermarkets
in Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, arranges for damaged
products (canned goods, dry grocery items and general merchandise)
to be returned to the Supervalu warehouse by Supervalu trucks.
Suppliers of those products can choose from six disposal methods.
The cheapest and most frequently chosen option is donating
the product to food banks. In 1997, more than 2.4 million
pieces of product were donated to Second Harvest Food Banks,
with a gross value of over $3 million. Previously, 90 to 95
percent of this product would have been thrown away. Supervalu
operates their program on a break-even basis and chooses not
to take advantage of any potential tax deduction.
Site Visit
Story
Story: A city wastewater treatment operator called
MnTAP and suggested that a meat processor on their system
could use help reducing their waste. The company's biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) levels
fluctuated, causing problems for wastewater treatment. Food
by-products were entering the company's wastewater as a result
of cleaning.
Prevention tip:
MnTAP staff met with the meat processor and discovered that
while cleaning was the direct cause of the problem, the root
of the problem was that product ended up on the floor and
in the drains as a result of production. MnTAP staff suggested
that the company initiate a waste reduction team—made
up of production staff—to come up with workable solutions
to their waste problems. The company plans to form teams and
MnTAP will start them off with training on team building and
on reducing wastewater loading.
To request that a
staff person come out and visit your company to offer customized
suggestions for waste reduction and management, call MnTAP
at 612/627-4646.
| Tips:
|
| • |
If your organization
provides food service, examine ordering techniques and
look at better stock techniques to minimize excess. |
| • |
Donate excess
food. Contact the Minnesota Food Bank Network at
612/486-9860. |
| • |
Remember that
tax benefits for donating food can be twice the cost of
the food donated. |
| • |
Support sustainable
agricultural practices by purchasing organic food whenever
possible. |
| • |
Buy food grown
locally/regionally to minimize pollution from transportation. |
| • |
Minimize spills
and leaks on food production lines to prevent raw materials
from becoming waste. |
| • |
Dedicate mixing
lines to certain products to reduce change-over cleanups. |
| • |
Consider using
food by-products as animal feed. |
|
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