HomeMy WebLinkAboutRestaurant_Composting_ProposalOshkosh Restaurant
Composting Pilot Program
Proposal
By:
Gabbie Genz, Tanner Hagerstrom, Erin
Thompson, Lizzie Niebauer & Garrett Masterson
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Table of Contents:
Executive Summary 3
Background & Problem Identification 4
Recommended Action 5
Overview 5
Why Restaurants?6
Fee Structure 6
City Government Assistance 6
Costs 7
Collection Bins 7
Labor Costs 7
City Labor 7
UWO Biogas Labor 7
Bag Liners 8
Promotional Costs 8
Line-Item Breakdown of Costs 9
Stakeholder Identification 9
Introduction 9
Oshkosh Area Restaurants 10
Pilora’s Cafe 11
Brian Langolf 12
Brad Spanbauer 13
Brandon Nielsen 13
James Rabe 14
Benchmarking 14
Stevens Point, WI 14
Potawatomi Bingo Casino Milwaukee, WI 16
San Luis Obispo, CA 17
University of California Davis, CA 17
Madison, WI (Program Failure but potential restart)18
Barriers 19
Kitchen Size 19
Fee Structure 20
City Labor Concerns 20
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Contamination 20
Significance for Sustainability 21
Expanding Waste Management 21
Negative Economic Impacts of Food Waste 22
Biogas and Biodigesters 24
Creating Sustainable Lifestyles 25
Conclusion 26
Works Cited 27
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Executive Summary
To combat the massive issue that is food waste in the U.S., our group decided to
create a program that would deal with this rising issue, starting at a local level, in the
city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Oshkosh is home to countless bars and restaurants where
food production and consumption occurs extensively,further resulting in high amounts
of food waste. Making these restaurants our target,a collection of this food waste that
could then be composted at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s biodigester and
converted to various forms of sustainable energy was the basis of our proposal.
In the formation of this pilot program proposal,we examined multiple similar
curbside composting programs that already exist. The primary benchmarking example
we used as a foundation for this proposal was the composting program in Stevens
Point, Wisconsin. We used this composting program as well as discussion with
stakeholders to gain insight from several restaurants that our proposal would directly
deal with along with sustainability experts and other stakeholders. Using these
examples and important stakeholders, we were able to formulate a well-rounded
composting program proposal. Participating restaurants would pay a monthly fee of
approximately forty five dollars and either buy a composting bin through the program, or
provide their own to save additional money. They would be provided with a guide on
what waste can be included in the bin as well. These bins would then be picked up each
week, or as needed if higher frequency must exist,by a representative where they
would then be hauled to the UW Oshkosh biodigester.The food waste would be
converted to clean energy that could be used in various forms. In turn, these restaurants
would be producing less waste that required disposal at landfills, lowering their garbage
collection fees while simultaneously participating in a environmentally sustainable
program.
We did, however, come across some potential barriers that might come with the
program, as examined in the barriers section of this report. One of the primary concerns
that many of these restaurants had was how participating in this program would directly
benefit them. Not only could they advertise that their restaurant is incorporating
sustainable action and be considered an environmentally friendly establishment, but
they could reduce the costs of their waste pickup fees, which is addressed in our costs
section. On top of this, the other primary barrier was the small kitchen size that many of
these restaurants have. Finding room for an additional composting bin that would also
potentially come with an odor was striking to these stakeholders. By incorporating a
composting bin, the necessity for large garbage bins would be reduced, creating space
for these composting bins. Further elaboration on these costs and barriers is
emphasized in our Costs and Barriers sections.
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Background & Problem Identification
The City of Oshkosh currently offers curbside trash and recycling services for the
community, but does not have any kind of municipal composting program. These
services are organized by neighborhood and pick-ups occur on varying days of the
week. As waste management services in Oshkosh stand,most residents are disposing
of their food waste and organic material in the trash.This waste is then sent to a landfill.
Food waste that goes to a landfill is a major issue because, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency (2021), “Municipal solid waste landfills are the
third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States,
accounting for approximately 15.1 percent of these emissions in 2019” (sec. 1).
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. By diverting
food waste out of landfills and instead disposing of it through composting practices,
emissions are greatly reduced.
Though the issue of food waste is a global problem,there are still ways we can
combat this locally. The City of Oshkosh recognizes the food waste problem in chapter
8 of their Sustainability Plan which states as a goal to “continue partnering with the
renewable energy facility biomass digester to convert community organic waste to
electricity and heat”. In response to the massive food waste issue and the City’s
Sustainability Plan, we decided to propose a pilot composting program.
For Oshkosh residents and businesses, sorting out their food waste could also
have an economic benefit. According to the USDA, “trash pickup is less expensive if
volume is reduced by keeping wasted food out of the garbage. In addition, some
haulers lower fees if wasted food is separated from the trash and sent to a compost
facility instead of the landfill” (Buzby 2021). By offering the option of a curbside
composting program in the city of Oshkosh, participants would see economic benefits
as well as know that they are making a difference environmentally.
Recommended Action
Overview
We recommend the creation of a fee-for-service curbside composting pilot
program for Oshkosh-area restaurant food waste. Collected waste would be composted
at the UW Oshkosh biodigester and converted to energy.We propose a program that
would provide receptacles for food waste to the interested restaurants which would then
be collected by UW Oshkosh Biogas. The University has recently purchased waste
hauling trucks for this purpose. Routes and route frequency would be determined based
on the necessity of each restaurant. Based on our survey of area restaurants, we
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suggest options for pick-up twice weekly or once per week. Participating restaurants
would pay a monthly fee of approximately $45 per pick-up which covers the cost of a
UWO Biogas employee driving to the sites and collecting the bins, along with
maintenance and fuel costs for the trucks. The composting bins will be picked up and
then hauled to the UWO biodigester where the food waste will be converted to clean
energy.
The City of Oshkosh would assist with this program by providing promotional and
education materials to restaurants. We recommend the creation of an educational
pamphlet that would describe what can and cannot be composted through this program.
Creation of this pamphlet would require working with UWO Biogas. The pamphlets
would be provided to restaurants after they join the program. We are also
recommending that the City provide a window sticker to restaurants who participate in
the composting program so that they can share with their customers that they compost
their food waste. This would be a marketing tactic for restaurants and a way to
communicate their sustainability efforts.
Why Restaurants?
Our recommendation of a composting program targeted at area restaurants is
due to the fact that restaurants accrue more food waste than residential households and
there is a smaller risk of contamination. If plastics or other non-organic materials
become mixed in with food waste that is sent to the biodigester, it will never break down
and will have to be removed by hand. Restaurants would supply pre-consumer waste
from their kitchens that would be less likely to include contaminant material. By
beginning with a restaurant composting program, there is a greater chance of success
while still leaving room for a residential composting program later on.
Fee Structure
We also encourage the program to be made as cost effective as possible for
small businesses by creating a fee structure that is proportional to food waste
production. This would allow large dining facilities to carry a large financial burden and
offset costs for small restaurants. We suggest fees in the range of $35-$45 per month
for once weekly pickup. This cost would be proportional for restaurants requiring more
or fewer pickups. Rationale for this fee structure will be discussed in the Costs section.
City Government Assistance
We are recommending that the City assist with the creation of this program and
support the operations of the composting program,especially during its inception. This
position would be fairly minimal in responsibilities and could be in conjunction with any
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other City government position. The main responsibility of this position would be to
communicate with area restaurants about the program,the benefits of composting, and
why this program would be beneficial to them. Based on our conversations with
stakeholders, as we will address later on, educating business owners on why this
program is cost-effective and advantageous to them will be crucial for the success of
the program. City support and promotion would add legitimacy to the program,
increasing the likelihood of greater restaurant participation.
Costs
Collection Bins
The cost of the collection bins through biogas would be $90 per bin. If the
restaurant can provide their own bin then, they would not have to purchase it through
biogas. Another option for restaurants is that they could purchase one online through
ULINE. This would be a Rubbermaid Brute collection bin with a lid for an estimated cost
of $35 for a 32 gallon bin and an additional cost of $15 for a single lid. As long as the
collection has a sturdy lid to keep the compost inside the bin.
Labor Costs
City Labor
James Rabe, the Director of Public Works for the City of Oshkosh, shared a city
perspective of what some labor costs would look like for our potential program. A City
employee would need to be assigned to support the program. Compensation for this
additional labor could be done through the utilization of DNR Recycling staff. At this
time, they are responsible for this area of the city’s salary and benefits. The DNR
Recycling offers employment packages through a grant which could be utilized to
compensate for additional labor associated with the composting program.
UWO Biogas Labor
Potential labor costs for UWO biogas would be the pickup up fee from the
restaurants back to UWO biogas to dispose could be as high as $45 per route pickup.
That depends on how many restaurants are having their compost picked up by biogas
as well as how often a restaurant is looking to have their compost picked up. A lot of
restaurants that were surveyed are local restaurants on or near downtown Main Street.
If there are quite a few restaurants who are close to one another who are interested and
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want their compost to be picked up then, the cost would be lower than $45 per route
pickup. This route pickup cost would include maintenance,fuel, and a staff member or
an intern to complete the pickup. This information was provided by Brian Langoff.
Bag Liners
More information that was discussed with James Rabe is that bag liners could be
beneficial and should be compostable for the collection bins. The bins that are being
suggested would be 32 gallon bins since they would be used by restaurants who
accumulate a lot of food waste. An estimate for 32 gallon bag liners that are
compostable would cost $34 for 50 liners per box.The brand Stout from Home Depot
carries these compostable bag liners.
Promotional Costs
By joining this pilot program restaurants would receive a window sticker for their
establishment to show their customers the restaurants environmental efforts of getting
their food waste compost by UWO biogas. This would serve as promotional material
which could help recruit other restaurants to join this pilot program.
Educational pamphlets would play an important role in educating restaurants on
the value of composting. Composting would help reduce food waste in our landfill which
at the end of the day that will be better for everyone.The cost of this educational
material could be through the DNR. While speaking with James Rabe, he shared that
the DNR collects funds through tipping fees at landfills.The funds then can be used for
the local government in helping out certain programs.Those funds could help mitigate
the costs of educational pamphlets to educate restaurants on the importance of
composting which would help reduce the amount of food waste in the landfills.
Savings to Restaurants
James Rabe also shared that for restaurants, by participating in this program that
restaurants could save money at the end of day. A restaurant's waste pickup fee may
lower if they chose to compost their food waste.Depending on the restaurants monthly
waste pickup costs - compared to our suggested fee of up to $45 per route pickup fee.
This varies on how many restaurants participate and how often a restaurant needs their
compost picked up by biogas.
Restaurants will also benefit from joining this program in that they will be able to
boast their sustainable efforts from involvement in this green initiative that reduces
harmful food waste while also reducing fossil fuel consumption. By joining this pilot
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program restaurants would receive a window sticker for their establishment to show
their environmental efforts of composting their food waste.
Line-Item Breakdown of Costs
32 - gallon (single) collection bin purchased by restaurants $35
32 - gallon (single) matching collection bin purchased by restaurants $15
or
32 - gallon (single) collection bin purchased through UWO biogas ($90)
32 - gallon compostable bag liners purchased through retail store $34
with 50 liners per box
Single route pick - up estimate depending on how many $45
restaurants participate in this pilot program.
This cost is on the high end but would be lower
if there are multiple sites to pick-up rather than a single
restaurant pick-up.
Total range of initial cost to restaurants:$129-$169
Total recurring cost to restaurants per pick-up:$45
Stakeholder Identification
Introduction
Stakeholders are vital to any project when considering people who may be
impacted or invested in the outcome. Especially in regards to a city-wide effort that
requires the participation of several different groups of stakeholders. From restaurant
owners to city employees and experts, these stakeholders’opinions need to be included
throughout the entire process of a city-wide composting initiative. The creation of a
curbside composting program in Oshkosh would mean collaboration between many
different facets of the community. As our group identified our stakeholders, we took into
consideration questions such as “Who makes decisions when it comes to waste
collection?” “Who will be generating the food waste?”and “Who will be responsible for
composting the food waste?”. All of these questions led us to identify our stakeholders
as 1. Oshkosh restaurants 2. Brian Langolf, the Director of Biogas Systems and
Research Development 3. Brad Spanbauer, Sustainability Advisory Board member 4.
Brandon Nielsen, City Planner 5. James Rabe, Director of Public Works. These five
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entities hold insight and decision making power when it comes to creating a composting
program.
Oshkosh Area Restaurants
In order to gauge interest in a potential curbside composting project, we
conducted a phone survey of Oshkosh area restaurants.These were mostly small,
locally owned businesses that we thought would have a stake in the Oshkosh
community. The survey consisted of three questions that would measure their interest in
such a program, the amount of space their kitchen had for another waste collection bin,
and their willingness to pay a fee for this service.We organized responses to the survey
questions in pie charts in order to visualize how many respondents were actually
interested in this program.
The first question we asked participants was “Would you be interested in a
curbside composting program in Oshkosh?” (Fig. 1).Responses ranged from “yes” or
“no” to “unsure” or “maybe”. The proportion of restaurants that responded “yes” was
45.5%. These respondents were the most enthusiastic and were very interested in
talking to us about our project and potential ideas that they had. Restaurants such as
Pilora’s Cafe, Planet Perk Coffeehouses, and Bar 430 fit into this category. Restaurants
that responded “no” and therefore had no interest in such a program were 36.4% of
respondents. As a group, we were surprised to find that this percentage was so high,
especially since we specifically identified local restaurants that would most likely have a
stake in the community.
Restaurants that were particularly uninterested and enthusiastic in their “no”
response were Rocky’s Tacos and Subs, The Roxy Supper Club, and The Varsity Club.
Still, other restaurants fell into the “maybe” category in which they were interested but
reluctant to say “yes” without more information. Restaurants that had this response
were Takiza Mexican Restaurant and Dockside Tavern.This is a group that we view as
being still promising potential members of a curbside composting program.
The second question that we posed to area restaurants was “Would your
restaurant have the space and capacity to collect food waste in a container separate
from trash and recycling?” (Fig. 2). This is an important question to ask because space
is an issue in many commercial kitchens. 45.5% of respondents said that, yes, they
would have space, however, 45.5% also said that they wouldn’t. 9.1% were unsure.
Answers from this question make it clear that the waste bins provided by the
composting program will have to be rather small in order to accommodate small
kitchens.
The third question that we asked in our survey was “Would you be willing to pay
a fee to participate in a composting program?” (Fig.3).Of the restaurants who indicated
that they were interested in the program, 57.1% said they would be willing to pay a fee
for the service. Of the interested restaurants, 42.9%said they would “would not be
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willing” or “would probably not be willing” to pay a fee. This question provides important
information about the impact that high fees could have on restaurant participation in the
program.
Something that is important to consider when analyzing responses from area
restaurants is that they are businesses and their chief concern is to make money. They
are not non-profit organizations or academic institutions in which they have an altruistic
mission. The businesses need to know “what’s in it for them” in order to get on board
with a composting program. The program needs to save them money and be worth their
while. These are important points to consider when designing a curbside composting
program and creating a fee structure for the service.
Figure 1 (green chart): Survey question on interest
Figure 2 (orange chart): Survey question on kitchen
space
Figure 3 (blue chart): Survey question on fee structure
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Pilora’s Cafe
Pilora’s Cafe is located at 910 North Main Street in Oshkosh. The cafe is a
popular breakfast spot in the downtown area. Pilora’s General Manager, Cory Tellock,
participated in our compost program survey and expressed his desire for curbside
composting in Oshkosh.
Tellock informed us that Pilora’s was extremely interested in participating in a
composting program directed towards restaurants because they are working to be more
sustainable and community-minded. His suggestion for a collection container was 30-35
gallon Brute plastic bins. This would allow for ample storage of food waste while also
being easy to spray out with a hose to clean. Pilora’s would require pick-up of their
compost at least 1-2 times per week because of how much waste they generate and for
health and hygiene reasons, according to Tellock.Tellock stressed that it would become
a problem for food waste to be stored in the bins at the restaurants for too long. In
regards to paying a fee for the compost pick-up, Tellock said that Pilora’s would be
willing to do so because they see this as being a very valuable service. He also
suggested that the soil material that results from the composting process could be
shared with restaurants as an added bonus for participating in the program. For Pilora’s,
this added perk would make the program especially worthwhile.
Pilora’s Cafe offered valuable insight into what Oshkosh restaurants may be
looking for in terms of a composting program. Our Recommended Action takes into
account Tellock’s comments as well as similar comments from restaurants such as
Becket’s, Dockside Tavern, and Mama’s Noodle Bar.
Brian Langolf
Brian Langolf, the Director of Biogas Systems and Research Development at UW
Oshkosh, was another key stakeholder in the proposal due to his direct involvement and
oversight of the campus biodigester. In a short conversation Brian he acknowledged
that a city composting program would be a great step forward in sustainability by using
food waste to generate renewable energy rather than having it end up in landfills. He
also said that the biodigester on campus has the capacity to partner with these local
restaurants and businesses to take in this additional food waste. Brian also mentioned
that the trucks used by the UW Biogas waste collection service use carts ranging from
30-65 gallons in size that could be provided (for a possible cost) to the restaurants.
When talking about costs, he said that our cost estimates may be lower than what they
are likely to be. Each individual restaurant would have to be evaluated to determine
their expected cost, “If you are just collecting from only one sight on main street it could
be $40 or possibly more for a weekly service” Biran commented. However these costs
could be paid for due to the reduction in garbage services, “the goal for the client would
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be to divert the organics (likely 40% of what they put in the trash) to reduce garbage
pickup frequency and apply that savings to the organics collection service.”
Brad Spanbauer
Not only did we recognize the importance of feedback from area restaurants that
would be directly affected by our program proposal,but the necessity for insight from a
sustainability expert like Brad Spanbauer was of utmost importance. Brad Spanbauer,
the sustainability coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh as well as a
member on the Oshkosh city’s Sustainability Advisory Board spoke with us and
provided us with an overwhelming amount of information and support. He explained
how he and his colleagues are working on a similar project that is more focused on
larger dining operations like Oshkosh Corp., hospital cafeterias and grocery stores. If
we start at a larger scale like that of these bigger businesses, we will not only cover a
larger scale of food waste, but the potential for other smaller businesses to implement
the program would be much higher. He also recommended some specifications that
should be necessary in the program like one on one consulting with these businesses to
provide proper information on how the program would work and benefit them, as well as
a need for a leader of the program in the city that would serve as a composting program
coordinator.
Specifically targeting our program proposal, Brad recommended monthly fees for
the participation of these restaurants that he and his peers determined. He stated that
we should charge between 25 and 35 dollars per month,and any larger scale dining
settings like that of Oshkosh Corp. would have a higher monthly fee for their increased
amounts of food waste. By charging these larger businesses more, it would also further
provide potential negotiations for smaller restaurants to have a lower fee per month if it
instilled their participation. He also expressed to us the importance of providing not only
a composting bin to each participant that would be used for the collection of the food
waste, but also a guide that would inform the companies on what can and cannot be
included in the composting bin to prevent potential contamination. Brad not only
provided us with beneficial suggestions on the specifications of our proposal, but also
opened our eyes to some of the potential barriers that could arise, allowing us to
combat them throughout the construction of our program proposal.
Brandon Nielsen
Another stakeholder that we identified was Brandon Nielsen who is the assistant
planner in planning services for the City of Oshkosh.Brandon was chosen as an expert
due to his knowledge and work with city ordinances or municipal codes that may affect
the feasibility of this project. Brandon’s relevant expertise would be able to inform or
shape discussions about the composting program. He shared that there are no
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municipal codes that hinder such a project, nor are there new ones that will be needed
to make the program work. Furthermore, Brandon is also the staff liaison of the
Sustainability Advisory Board, meaning he is engaged in helping the City of Oshkosh
become more sustainable. Brandon’s interest in the project would be motivated by his
interest in environmental issues. Between his work with city planning and his
involvement with the SAB, Brandon actively works towards bettering the environment.
James Rabe
Lastly, a stakeholder that was identified was James Rabe. Who is the Director of
Public Works for the City of Oshkosh. James Rabe would be considered an expert in
this field due to his experience and knowledge regarding the collection system here in
Oshkosh. He was able to give a city perspective ranging from barriers regarding
municipal collection, the manpower of collecting compost,and educating restaurants
about composting. James also stressed the importance of composting and how
educating not only the public but restaurants as well was imperative to help reduce the
amount of waste in our landfills.
Throughout this discussion James stressed the importance of education. James’
recommended partnering with the DNR Recycling staff to help with educating
restaurants. The DNR Recycling staff does a lot of educational pamphlets and
educational workshops with the community. By doing so with restaurants it would help
educate them more in regards to the importance of composting and its benefits. He also
shared that he believes that throughout the Common Council that there would be some
support already before presenting our project proposal.The reason for this is that this
pilot program would be for local restaurants which are on a smaller scale which could be
easier to implement in the City of Oshkosh.
Benchmarking
Stevens Point, WI
The city of Stevens Point, located in central Wisconsin,is our primary
benchmarking example. This mid-size city with a population of just over 25,000
residents (“Quick Facts: Stevens Point, Wisconsin”),is home to the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point which has an enrollment of over 7,000 students (“Fast Facts”).
Stevens Point is located in an area with many lakes and is situated along the Wisconsin
River.
The City of Stevens Point operates a curbside composting program that serves
the greater Stevens Point area. The program is operated in conjunction with two local
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farms: Rising Sand Organics Cooperative Farm and Whitefeather Organics
(risingsand.com). Rising Sand Organics is located 14 miles from Stevens Point in the
town of Custer. Rising Sand Organics provides the logistical needs of the composting
program by offering weekly or biweekly pick up of business or residential food waste.
For residential customers, weekly pick-up costs $22.75/ month. For business
customers, weekly pick-up costs $22/ month (risingsand.com). This monthly payment
includes up to 50 pounds of waste, or 10 of the provided buckets. This fee structure has
proven to be very successful in the Stevens Point program and has made it affordable
for households and small businesses to participate. In the creation of a composting
program in Oshkosh, a similar fee structure would promote active involvement from
many small, area restaurants.
Waste is collected in designated five gallon buckets with screw tops by
consumers which is placed on the curb along with trash and recycling dumpsters on
scheduled days. The buckets are then transported by Rising Sand Organics using a
wide-bed pick-up truck. Some short routes within the city are picked up by a bike with a
small trailer attached (Fig. 4).
Figure 4
Rising Sand Organics also operates the
public-facing side of the composting program.
Their website hosts the sign-up and payment
portal for new customers and they use their
social media channels for communication
about the composting program. Most notably,
customers can look to their social media for
information about what is appropriate to compost and what is not (Fig. 5).
Figure 5; Facebook caption: These tea bags are not acceptable through our curbside compost program.
BUT you can empty out the tea leaves into your bucket instead!
After Rising Sand Organics Farm collects the compostable
waste, Whitefeather Organics, located 12 miles outside of
Stevens Point, composts the organic material using a windrow
method (Fig. 6). This method is done outdoors and produces
low amounts of heat and emissions, however it is time and
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land area intensive. It takes about sixteen weeks to
generate a usable compost product and requires many
acres of space, especially for high volumes of waste.
Figure 6
The City of Stevens Point aided in the initial creation of
the program by ensuring that all municipal codes and ordinances were friendly to
curbside composting. The City also offered support in the planning process. Revenue
and soil amendment that the program generates are for the use of Rising Sand and
Whitefeather Organics. In 2020, Stevens Point’s city-wide composting program diverted
30,000 pounds of food scraps from the landfill and 92,000 pounds of organic material of
all kinds was composted (risingsand.com).
Potawatomi Bingo Casino Milwaukee, WI
One community that addressed food waste issues was the Forest County
Potawatomi Community (FCPC). In 2013, they opened a new $20 million food waste
biodigester facility at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino down in Milwaukee in response to
the growing food waste problem. They were researching opportunities to mitigate their
dependence on non-environmentally friendly energy.With that in mind, the Forest
County Potawatomi Community wanted to produce their own green energy and
searched for a feasible source to generate electricity.One of the abundant resources in
the Milwaukee area was waste that’s going to landfills or down drains. The FCPC faced
a few challenges but the majority of them happened when they were working on the
plans to build the biodigester facility. Oshkosh won’t have to face these problems due to
the fact that the biodigester is already built on the UW-Oshkosh campus. The main
challenge that they have reported is greasy, oily,and fatty foods being digested which
harms the mechanics and the biodigester system. The FCPC combated this issue by
investing more money into the system so as to prevent the greasy, oily, and fatty foods
from deteriorating the biodigester system. This causes their biodigester to be down for
two months while the FCPC figured out a way to prevent this problem from happening
and to make costly updates to their equipment. Oshkosh can learn from this by ensuring
that the restaurants participating are strictly told which food wastes are allowed to go
into their composting buckets. Having a set guideline for restaurants to follow on what
can be composted will ensure that the biodigester system doesn’t have any mechanical
issues and put a pause on the composting program.
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San Luis Obispo, CA
San Luis Obispo, California, a city of roughly 45,000 people, operates a dry
anaerobic biodigester like the one in Oshkosh, WI.This biodigester is set to take in
over 36,000 tons of waste every year from the residents of the city as well as the
restaurants there and produces enough energy for over 600 homes. This process also
creates more than 20,000 tons of high quality fertilizers that can be sold back to farmers
for agricultural purposes and is set to reduce the amount of organic waste in landfills
75% by 2025. This is largely due to a state assembly bill in 2014 that required
businesses that generated more than four cubic feet of organic waste weekly to
implement a compost recycling program. This, along with residential composting
programs around the San Luis area, have been implemented to help reduce the
greenhouse gases being emitted. Residents can sign up for the “Green Waste Service''
that is contracted through the San Luis Garbage Company.Once residents have signed
up they are provided a smaller trash bin for solid compostable waste including yard
waste, leaves, grass clippings, and food waste like meats, fruits, and vegetables.
Businesses and restaurants are provided with a green dumpster that is for solid food
waste only. The San Luis Garbage company then collects the compost from citizens
and businesses weekly and transports it to the city’s biodigester. Oshskosh can learn
from this by analyzing how much waste could be collected from the restaurants and the
community. If a similar collection program was implemented,wastes being transported
to landfills would be reduced as well as more power being generated for the campus
and possibly the surrounding community. This could also increase the amount of
fertilizer that could be produced by the biodigester and help make farming operations
more sustainable in the Fox Valley area.
University of California Davis, CA
The University of California, Davis is another benchmarking example of a
college campus using an anaerobic biodigester to produce energy for the school and
surrounding area. This biodigester diverts over 20,000 tons of organic waste from
landfills every year and turns 50 tons of that organic waste into over 12,000 kWh of
electricity everyday. This biodigester is strategically located next to the University of
California Davis landfill, which allows them to mix the gases produced by both the
landfill and the biodigester, to produce over 5.6 million kWh of electricity every year
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 13,500 tons annually.Farming operations
around this area also benefit greatly from this biodigester.Roughly 4 million gallons of
fertilizers and soil amendments are produced annually which can provide natural
fertilization for over 145 acres of farmland everyday.A problem in this process that UC
Davis was trying to solve was the issue of transporting this fertilizer that has a short
“shelf life.” The facility's digestate was inconsistent in texture and composition compared
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to the traditional non biofertilizers and was causing logistical problems with the
equipment that was already being used. However, through the process of filtering and
drying the digestate it has made it possible for the fertilizer to last longer and be
transported to farming operations that are farther away. This not only leaves
sustainability implications for reduction of organic waste in landfills, the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions, but also the reduction of non organic fertilizers being used
on farming operations.
The City of Oshkosh can benefit from this benchmarking example by examining
the sustainability implications that increased biodigester operations have to offer.
Expanding the campus biodigester on campus to intake more compost from the
surrounding area could reduce the amount of organic waste being put in landfills
effectively reducing the carbon footprint of the city,as well as providing greater amounts
of natural fertilizers for the farming operations around the area.
Madison, WI (Program Failure but potential restart)
From 2011 to 2019, Madison, Wisconsin ran a pilot composting program where
food waste was collected from both local restaurants and residential homes.
Composting bins were provided to over 40 area restaurants and approximately 1,100
homes where collection would occur either weekly or every other week, Following
collection, the food waste was hauled to the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Agricultural Research Station where it was then composted using the windrow method.
The pilot program experienced some levels of success,but ultimately had to come to an
end due to contamination issues. Participants were either misinformed on what could be
included in the composting bins, or failed to follow the procedure resulting in an
abundance of plastic bags and utensils ending up in the collections. Also, paper
products and napkins, which are compostable materials,would be laid out at the site to
undergo windrow composting but would blow away in high winds that lead to littering
and further pollution issues.
Although the program was deemed a failure and is no longer being carried out,
our group was able to gain valuable information from Madison’s efforts. Their methods
of collection seemed to work effectively and efficiently,picking up the compostable
materials from participants' bins either every week or every other week, so we had a
good understanding on how gathering could be implemented.In terms of their failures,
we came to an understanding that contamination was the overwhelming issue, and a
strong emphasis must be carried out in our proposal on what can and cannot be
included in the composting bins. Furthermore, Madison’s method of windrow
composting proved to have flaws with the composting of paper materials being that the
wind caused substantial unintentional pollution. This led us to strictly focus on use of the
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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh biodigester as our method of composting so that we
could alleviate this area of pollution, and get the most out of energy productions by
being able to include paper based materials in our composting.
Barriers
While the numerous benefits of a city-wide composting project are highlighted in
this proposal, it is important to reflect on the barriers that may affect the roll-out of this
project. Many of the barriers to this project were identified during stakeholder interviews.
More specifically, restaurant owners gave insight on barriers that were specific to their
own establishments. These identified barriers are not large enough to overpower the
potential success of the program, however, and identifying these barriers early on is
important to predict the direction in which the program will need to go.
This introductory, small scale composting initiative is not meant to be all
encompassing. The goal is to create a relationship with trailblazing restaurants who
want to do what they can to help the environment.
Kitchen Size
A common issue for these owners was that they do not have a space in their
kitchen to house the compost bins. Due to the size of the composting bins, some
restaurants may find they need to store theirs outside by their garbage dumpster.
Restaurants such as Takiza Mexican and Mama’s Noodle Bar expressed that as a
common issue stating that their kitchens are very small and they wouldn’t be able to
keep these bins in their kitchen without them being in the way or properly tucked away
so as to not interfere with their operations. One way to combat this barrier of kitchen
size is to store these composting bins outside near their garbage dumpster. In the
stakeholder interview with Brandon Nielsen, he indicated that if this were the case, the
only ordinance that restaurants would have to comply with is Chapter 30, Article 7,
Section 30-191 “Exterior Storage and Screening Standards”.This ordinance states that
all exterior trash storage areas shall be located within an enclosure at least 6 feet in
height that completely screens the view of all trash and trash storage containers. This
storage area must also be equipped with a solid gate to gain access to the storage
area. Once since the majority of restaurants already have this exterior storage area, the
composting bins can be stored within this storage area, causing no interference in the
kitchen.
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Fee Structure
Another barrier involving restaurants is the proposed fee structure. Several
restaurants that indicated they would join the program also indicated that they did not
want there to be fees associated with this service.These restaurants feel there should
be no fees because they are the ones holding the responsibility of separating out the
food waste.
City Labor Concerns
James Rabe also expressed similar concerns for kitchen sizes and the fee
structure of the program. During his stakeholder interview,he also discussed the
barriers of using the city and sanitation department as the food waste collectors.
Currently, area restaurants are partnered with a third-party sanitation service that
collects their waste. James Rabe stated that both the public works and the sanitation
department are currently short staffed with their standing duties. If responsibilities
related to the food waste collection program were added to either of these departments,
they would need to hire additional employees which highlights another barrier of the
funding for salary and benefits of more employees.
Contamination
The UWO biodigester runs on a 28-day cycle (“About Biogas Systems” 2020).
This means that anything that goes into the biodigester must be able to break down
within 28 days. When restaurants are collecting their food waste to be taken to the
biodigester, anything they collect must break down in that time frame. Standard food
scraps and paper products like napkins and paper towels easily break down in that
amount of time. Materials such as Bioplastics (corn/wheat/etc.-based utensils, cups,
straws, etc.), regular plastic, metal, glass, and other non-organic materials do not break
down in 28 days. Since restaurants are collecting their own food waste, the risk of
contaminating the biodigester with foreign materials exists.
To combat this issue, part of our recommended action is to provide restaurants
with an educational pamphlet that clearly states what can and cannot be collected in
their compost bins with specific examples. As part of the responsibilities of the City
employee tasked with overseeing the program, ongoing information and education
about contamination for the restaurants would help mitigate the amount of foreign
materials that end up in the composting stream.
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Significance for Sustainability
What will this proposal achieve for the city, and how does it advance goals of
creating a more sustainable city? As we have discussed in class, there is no easy
definition of sustainability. In this section, you need to lay out exactly how your proposal
will lead to a more sustainable community, and why these proposals represent more
sustainable choices. For example, what, specifically,are the sustainability benefits of
energy conservation in private homes? What will this do to the city’s carbon footprint?
What are the social, economic, and environmental costs/benefits of this proposal (three
pillars analysis). Explain how this project will advance sustainability goals beyond what
the city was going to do anyway, as a part of standard operations and/or state
requirements. Be as specific as possible in this sustainability analysis, and ground your
discussion in research.
Expanding Waste Management
Based on an assessment of available research, solid waste management has
evolved from no management tools whatsoever to complex systems that handle
landfilling, incinerating and combustion, recycling,and composting. As countries move
from developing to developed, they follow this model of solid waste management
expansion. The most developed communities and municipalities in the United States
operate a wide array of management facilities while others may facilitate only landfilling
and recycling. Overall, waste volumes are increasing world wide and current solid waste
management practices won’t be able to keep up within the near future. Expansion of
waste management to include comprehensive recycling services, material recovery, and
composting systems will become necessary soon.
In recent years, disposal of municipal solid waste has increased, leading to an
increase in pathogens present in landfills (Gerba 2011). Food borne illnesses, faecal
matter, and absorbent sanitary products all contribute to overall pathogen populations.
Food waste in particular contributes the most to faecal coliform (intestinal bacteria)
populations. Based on the importance of pathogen reduction and public health,
diversion of food waste is an important step in achieving sustainable waste
management systems.
Transitioning from traditional methods of solid waste management and more
sustainable ones has proved to be very difficult for many municipalities. There are
barriers to greater sustainability in waste management,however analysis of each waste
stream individually proves to be an effective way to transition (Pollans 2017). Solid
waste management is composed of multiple components:landfilling, recycling,
composting, etc. Reaching sustainability comes when modes for transitioning to more
sustainable management practices are considered for each waste component.
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Consideration of sustainability implications of directing waste through a
composting system and waste deposited into landfills is a vital part of sustainable waste
management systems. Through a case study at Kean University,Greenhouse gas
emissions, eutrophication, smog formation, and fossil fuel use was found to be lower
while also generating a profit for the university through sale of vegetables grown in the
compost (Dongyan 2017). As a university that diverts food waste to a biodigester, their
findings are applicable to the City of Oshkosh and could be replicated with the
implementation of a restaurant composting program.
There are uniquely specific hurdles to implementing food waste management
solutions that divert food waste from landfills. Some of these barriers include collection,
hauling, storage, and bioconversion (Sindhu 2019).Despite these challenges, however,
food waste-specific management solutions exist and are necessary practices within
municipalities for a sustainable future. Community composting programs, biodigesters,
and home composting campaigns can all be effective ways for municipalities to divert
food waste. The benefit of value-added products can also be a compelling way to offset
high cost barriers to implementation.
This research is relevant to implementation of a composting program within the
City of Oshkosh because a majority of the research advocates for the necessity of food
waste diversion. In order to make responsible use of land, responsibly produce
emissions, and protect public health, municipal composting systems need to be
implemented.
Negative Economic Impacts of Food Waste
With the United States being a developed nation, we have easier access to food,
therefore making it that much easier for us to waste it. To understand the need for a
better food waste management system in Oshkosh, we need to understand how
unsustainable the food waste problem is here in the United States. More specifically, the
food waste and improper disposal has key negative economic impacts from wasting
money, and wasting a source of energy.
In 2013, a group of chemical engineering researchers at the University of
Manchester conducted research and calculated food waste costs across the U.S.,
Japan, and the U.K. They estimated that each year in the U.S., at least 77 billion
pounds of edible food, worth nearly $30 billion, is thrown away from restaurants,
convenience stores, and supermarkets alone” (Melikoglu et al. 2013). It is the
restaurants who are seeing this economic downside as David Blum from Walden
University, Minneapolis, Minnesota who found that “the restaurant industry generated
approximately 33 lb of food waste per $1,000 of a restaurant’s revenue” (Blum 2020). It
is difficult to see so much economic loss that comes from the landfilling of food waste.
Furthermore, these costs also extend to greenhouse gas emissions. Kumar Venkat,
president of Clean Metrics Corp in Portland, Oregon,conducted research and found
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that “avoidable food waste in the US exceeds 55 million metric tonnes per year, nearly
29% of annual production. This waste produces life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of
at least 113 million metric tonnes of CO2e annually,equivalent to 2% of national
emissions, and costs $198 billion” (Venkat 2011).
Not only is there economic loss associated with landfilling food waste, there is
also a major loss of energy by discarding organic waste. In the same research project,
Kumar Venkat computed the annual average energy content of food wastes in the
United States from 2010, shown in Table 1. The calculated number for the United States
is almost 495 petajoules. To put that into perspective,495 petajoules of energy is
equivalent to the electrical consumption of 4 million American houses over 1 year.
Table 1. Computed Annual Average Energy Content of Food Wastes from Different Countries in 2010
Additionally, using food waste for anaerobic digestion produces methane rich
biogas which can then be used for electricity as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels.
Peter Stuart of Loughborough University found that using an anaerobic digester can
produce usable methane as a renewable energy source to replace petrol to produce 1.7
kilowatt hours of electricity and heat. 1.7 kilowatt hours can produce electricity to the
average American’s house for 1.4 hours (Stuart 2006).
Since these economic losses are primarily felt by the food industry, why does that
matter for those outside of the industry? While the economic effects are one sided, the
environmental impacts are felt by everyone.
Negative Environmental Impacts of Food Waste
One of the biggest environmental issues we face today is human induced
destruction of natural lands, where landfills and food waste are a key contributor. Food
waste is the second highest contributor to landfill wastes in the United States, where
approximately 40 percent of all food produced is lost and accumulates in these dumps
(Grossman 2020). These landfills lead to various different forms of environmental
degradation. Soils become contaminated from the various chemicals breaking down
and slowly decomposing, which experiences runoff from rain and ends up in
surrounding water sources. But the key form of pollution that landfills lead to exists in
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the atmosphere. In the United States, food waste in landfills accounts for roughly 16
percent of our methane emissions (Benson et al. 2018).Once these pollutants end up in
the atmosphere, further issues arise and lead to environmental degradation in the forms
of rising global temperatures and acid rain for just a few examples. As human
populations continue to rise exponentially, food production simultaneously increases
leading to more food wasted. The size and number of landfills will increase leading to
further destruction of natural lands as areas are designated completely to dumping
grounds, creating more dead zones and leading to even more of these various forms of
pollution discussed. These forms of pollution and destruction of land all start with the
unsustainable disposal of food wastes that build up in landfills causing nothing but harm
to the environment. A change in action is evident,and this exists in the form of
composting and biodigesting food wastes.
Biogas and Biodigesters
Mitigating the negative effects of various kinds of waste has become a
sustainability issue that municipalities have been trying to solve. Food waste from
citizens, agriculture, and grocery stores have been growing every year leading to
increased input into landfills and pollution into our ecosystems. Renewable technologies
like biodigesters have become a way to help mitigate these problems while also
generating clean, renewable energy. Wisconsin is a particularly interesting place when it
comes to the generation of energy considering a vast majority of their sources are from
outside connections. Wisconsin also has many large scale agricultural operations and is
a high producer of food and organic material. This outside dependency and large
production of organic material opens the market for Wisconsin to invest in in-state
energy production through renewables like biogas and biodigesters. A report done by
Renew Wisconsin said that up to 6% of Wisconsin's energy needs could be met through
biodigesters by collecting methane through the composting process. On top of this
increased energy production, a serious investment nationwide into biodigesters and the
biogas industry could produce 13,500 new biodigesters,over 335 thousand construction
jobs, and over 23,000 new permanent jobs maintaining them (Tanigawa 2017). In other
parts of the world there have been significant sustainability achievements by
biodigesters as well. In lower income areas small,household biodigesters were set up
to study reduction in physicochemical parameters and pathogens in water. The study
found that biodigesters set up to mitigate household waste was successful in reducing
pathogens like adenovirus, hepatitis A virus, salmonella and escherichia coli by over
90% from local waste waters and river waters (Lanna 1987).
A sustainable future may not be an easy feat to accomplish but places like
Wisconsin are set up to be leaders in this field.A serious investment and better
utilization of current biodigesters and biogas operations can have meaningful, lasting
impacts on our environment. Wisconsin's energy productions could become less
24
dependent on outside sources and provide clean, renewable energy through the use of
the waste we are already producing. Economically,a serious investment into
renewables like biodigesters will create lasting jobs as well as an increase in green
infrastructure. Lastly, biodigesters have the potential to reduce pollution not only from
our landfills but also in our waterways and water supplies. Better utilization of the waste
we produce will not only produce economic benefits but also environmental ones.
Sustainable futures are only possible if we deal with the problems we have created.
Creating Sustainable Lifestyles
Living sustainably is imperative for the environment.Which is exactly what
composting does by helping reduce waste in our landfills.The research ranged from
studies about household composting attitudes to the behaviors of consumers on where
they will eat out based on the restaurant's environmentally friendly practices. From the
papers that I researched they did not primarily focus on local restaurants itself. Mainly
on the attitudes and behaviors of living a sustainable lifestyle. It was somewhat
challenging to find local restaurant specific research in regard to composting. But the
overall message from the research I completed is that it is the same no matter if the
restaurant is local or not. That through educating local area restaurants on the benefits
that composting would have on the community. Which is what our proposal is about – to
inform the restaurants that composting will have a positive outcome for the environment
and community.
While conducting research on sustainable lifestyles, I found that changing the
perception of what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle is that there is a perceived
negative connotation to living this lifestyle (Gilg et al. 2005). The reasoning for this is
because some believe they have to give up so much in order to live this way. But it is
learning to adopt different practices over the years.There are different levels of living
more sustainably which will impact an individual’s environmentally friendly decisions. An
individual can be either altruistic and/or open to change. A lot of time those who live this
type of lifestyle can be both (Samuelsson et al. 2008).The majority of my research
concluded the importance of having early education on sustainability. With this paired
with the support of family – it will help bring in awareness and a caring attitude towards
the environment.
The concluding research on the attitudes about composting was on the
relationship between environmental beliefs and the behavioral intentions on
composting. Many factors play a role in how people perceive composting. Based on the
advantages and disadvantages of composting. Paired with an individual internal
perception vs. an external outside perception (Shirani et al. 2016). This is due to
needing a specific skill set of prior knowledge and resources in order to succeed with
composting. Many variables play a factor in the attitudes about composting.
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Conclusion
Different composting programs around the country and in Wisconsin have proven
to be successful in creating a more sustainable way to mitigate organic waste. Through
these programs cities have seen reductions in the amount of waste being sent to
landfills, reductions in the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted, an increase in
the amount of electricity being produced for homes,and greater quantities of natural
fertilizers being supplied to farming operations.We propose that expanding the
biodigester program to include compost from local restaurants could help bring these
benefits to Oshkosh. After surveying local restaurants to gage their interest in
participating we found that 45.5% were interested in joining and were enthusiastic to
share suggestions they had for the program. Surprisingly,we found that only 36.4% of
respondents were not interested in the program due to the lack of benefits they would
personally receive compared to the cost they would have. 18.1% of respondents were
unsure about their ability to participate, but would reevaluate once they see the program
finalized. These survey results show that a composting program is of interest to local
businesses and could attract more participants after its implementation.
For participating restaurants we suggest a small fee around $40 a month for a
weekly pick up and delivery of the compost based on the amount of compost that is
produced by the business. This is modeled after the composting collection program that
is being operated in Stevens Point, WI. The fees would cover the cost for the
composting receptacles and the operational costs of the UW Oshkosh biogas collection
service delivering the compost to the biodigester facility. We also suggest that a
Composting Operations position be created through the city to help manage the
program under the direction of Brad Spanbauer. This position would help with the day to
day operations of the program as well as communicate with restaurants, provide
education on the benefits of composting, and why this would be beneficial for the
community. We believe that implementing this program would not only allow Oshkosh to
decrease its environmental footprint but also provide clean energy and fertilizers for the
surrounding area.
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