The purpose of this blog is to share information with the general public, residential food waste recycling participants, customers and others interested in food waste recycling.
Food waste recycling in New Jersey is limited. Most food waste ends up in burn facilities, trucked out of state or in landfills.
Green Waste Technologies ("GWT") is the second Class C food waste recycler in New Jersey. We will operate under a Research, Development and Demonstration Permit.
Our R&D focuses on using the Black Soldier Fly ("BSF") to recycle food waste. We feed the food waste to the larvae (maggot) of this species of fly. When the larvae are at their full size, right before they pupate and turn into an adult fly, the larvae are harvested and processed into biofuel oil and protein meal.
We are not the first to do this. There are several other companies doing the same thing. Enviroflight, located in Ohio, is using BSF to process spent brewers grains. I've talked with the owner, Glen, and they are to the point of getting approvals for their fish meal from the FDA.
GWT's goals in the coming two years is to ramp up our BSF population to commercial scale, test our process and prototype equipment, then test our rendering process and prototype equipment.
Our Startup Saga
Getting a recycling business started in New Jersey is challenging. I wanted to locate the business in my town, Plainfield. First, I went to Plainfield's Zoning Board of Adjustment for approval for recycling with BSF in the light industrial zone. Since it is a new use, it wasn't covered in the land use ordinance. The board ruled it was a manufacturing use, so I was cleared to look at buildings in the light industrial zones in town.
Now, I had to find a building. I engaged Richard Galuppo from NAI DeLeo-Bram & Co., a commercial realtor. It took us 6 months of a lot of landlords saying 'No' (I guess flies and food waste made them nervous!) until I found our current location. DSC of Newark owns the old Mack Truck industrial complex.
Next, I went to the Plainfield City Council and requested a Resolution in support of the business. For anything related to solid waste or recycling, you must get city, council, then state approvals. The council saw the long-term potential for employment, and voted unanimously in favor.
With that in hand, the next hurtle was getting a Certificate of Occupancy for the space. That ended up taking 13 months of wrangling with the landlord, the City Planner and attorneys. But, in the end, it got done. During that time the space was scraped and power washed, and everything was painted. The landlord installed a new sprinkler system and we made other improvements to bring the space up to code.
While the CO drama was going on, I wrote up the actual Application for the RD&D recycling certificate. The laws for a normal facility are pages and pages long. For a RD&D facility, the rules are one page. The Application narrative was 17 pages with pages of exhibits.
After we got the CO, now it was time to apply to the Union County Utilities Authority. They are the agency responsible for anything related to solid waste in the county. Their engineers and lawyers reviewed the application, and made the recommendation to the Authority Commissioners to approve our application. We received that approval and the UCUA sent a letter to the NJ DEP requesting approval of our application and inclusion into the County Solid Waste Plan on June 3, 2013. Link to Documents
The NJDEP Planning Department approved our application. We are now listed as a Solid Waste Facility on the NJDEP's website. Shortly we will have our air quality permit, and we will be ready to start operations.
What's Going on Now
For the past two months we've been going through the streets of Dunellen, Plainfield and Greenbrook asking residents to sign up for a residential food waste pilot. I went before the Dunellen City Council to get their blessing and I've met with the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority's Director, Dan Williamson to share information about the pilot goals.
We have also met with the town of Woodbridge, which has agreed to participate in a residential pilot. Soon we will be meeting with officials from the town of Morristown to discuss a pilot there.
The main goals of the pilot are:
- determine how much food waste different size households produce
- determine what amount of solid waste is left, after recycling food waste, plastics, paper, and metals
- determine how many homes/distance a team of horses and wagon can cover in a route
We're going to use one, two, and three and a half gallon buckets. Residents will put their bucket out and we will pick it up and leave a clean bucket in its place. Back at the plant we will clean out the bucket, capture any of the food scraps for recycling.
Why Horses?
A garbage truck is expensive to run. Easily a garbage truck with two or three workers can cost $110/hr to run. Garbage trucks were designed for mixed solid waste pickup -- lots of volume. Food waste is dense and wet. Putting just food waste into a garbage truck can lead to leaking, stinking trucks and make food waste pickup expensive.
Running a team of horses with two employees costs less than half of a garbage truck. The food waste can be put into containers on the wagon. Our wagon can hold three tons of food waste. Our team of Percheron mares -- Abbie and Katie -- who weight 1700 lbs, can pull 5 times their weight. So, the girls could handle a loaded vehicle with 8.5 tons of food waste. Not shabby!
In France, 60 towns are using horses for garbage and recycling pickup. French Towns Using Horses for Garbage Pickup
The biggest concerns have been about horse poo and traffic. The girls wear a "horse diaper" -- basically a bag that hangs under their bottoms and attaches to the wagon. When they poo, it's caught by the bag. Traffic-wise, the team and wagon will be going on residential streets, which aren't busy. When we do go on a main road, we act like any other vehicle, and when we can, let cars go by. The wagon is equipped with turn signals, brakes and head and tail lights.
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