Food waste programs do more than reduce landfills

Christina Glentis, senior buyer at online grocery marketplace Martie, explained ways to keep unused food from ending up in landfills.

Meanwhile, Collins and the Denali team were tackling environmental problems with their own innovations. “Denali started about 10 years ago trying to find solutions to clean up wastewater. It’s still one of the sustainable services we provide, but over time and through acquisitions, we started to delve into the food waste dilemma we’re experiencing in this country and work with retailers, grocers and restaurants,” he explained.

The respective organizations’ and leaders’ passion for reducing waste led them to work together to optimize the food supply. “About 40% of food is thrown away, but despite this, 44 million Americans still face food insecurity. What I really like about what we’re trying to do is tackle two problems at once. We not only help landfills, but we also allow people to access good quality food at a reduced price and make it more affordable,” Glentis said.

Denali’s approach is to collect food waste from thousands of locations across the United States and divert those nutrients for use in things like animal feed, compost and energy, which contribute to create a more circular and sustainable system. The company works with various food companies, including Martie, sending trucks to recycle food and also providing information on environmental progress. “We are a very data-driven company, as are most of our partners. We’re not taking the approach of creating 300 stores with a food recycling program and saying, “Hey, here are the keys, good luck.” For us, it’s about providing data on a monthly basis,” Collins explained.

Transparency is crucial in such collaborative efforts, the presenters agreed. “We communicate to the consumer and to our customers that the reason these products are on our side, why they are here, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the product, but it’s is simply because of a supply chain issue that we’re “trying to help resolve,” Glentis said.

The ability to divert usable products is also improving with emerging technologies. “We use technology in almost every aspect of what we do. Without going into too much detail, we are currently working on proprietary technology using AI to ensure our processes are fast and efficient so we can get as much good food to customers as quickly as possible,” Glentis reported.

Collins also highlighted initiatives that improve its processes, such as recent deconditioning services which Denali launched with Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across the country. “Before the last 12 months, we mainly dealt with clean food waste in bulk. Well, packaged food waste also makes up a significant percentage of food waste sent to landfills. So we came up with a program called Zero De-Pack, where we strategically placed de-pack machines at some of our composting sites and in some of our feedlots,” he said . “Store members can also throw away all their packaged food waste, and this is mixed, taken back to our composting site and put through a depackager which will separate the packaging from the food waste,” he said.

Additionally, Denali now packages finished compost and offers it to its retail partners. “They’re able to put it on their shelves and make money from it, which is a good thing,” Collins pointed out.