SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Springfield, Ohio — A portion of the third-largest waste stream in Ohio — food waste — is being diverted from landfills to composting facilities.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has been awarding grants to encourage the recycling of food waste. It is part of an environmental and economic development program that began in 2006 when ODNR awarded the first of such grants to Paygro, a South Charleston composting facility.

To date, five composting companies in Ohio have received the grants. And on Thursday, May 15, state legislators announced that a second grant of $245,000 will go toward more equipment for Paygro's composting facility, which is expected to process 13,000 tons of material per year.

The equipment will include a compost blender and two trucks capable of dumping 30- to 90-gallon wheeled garbage cans called toters.

"Food waste is so much more dense than regular trash," said Doug Alderman, Paygro's Director of Agricultural and Environmental Business Development.

"If you fill one of those, it's going to be really difficult for a worker at a restaurant or grocery store to dump it."

The trucks will be running a route, picking up food waste from grocery stores and restaurants, schools and universities, which will store the waste in toters and biodegradable or compostable bag liners.

"Waste streams coming from grocery stores and restaurants are typically over 50 percent compostable," Alderman said. "And the fees we charge are typically less than what a landfill charges."

Only exceeded by paper and plastics, food waste comprises 15 percent of the statewide waste stream by weight, according to an ODNR study.

Paper fiber is the largest waste stream component, comprising

41 percent. Plastics comes in second place at 16 percent.

Food waste diverted to composting facilities is used as a base material for compost and mulch products, which are then sold to big-box retailers like Home Depot and independent garden centers.

"It's really the right thing to do," Alderman said, when asked what incentive his clients would have to divert waste from the landfill.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0367 or ecavallaro@coxohio.com.

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