EPA and USDA Join Together To Help Americans Reduce Wasted Food

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 4, 2013

EPA and USDA Join Together To Help Americans Reduce Wasted Food 

 WASHINGTON – Today EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe joined U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to announce the launch of a challenge that asks farmers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities and government agencies to reduce wasted food. The U.S. Food Waste Challenge builds upon the success of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge to help more Americans do their part to reduce food waste. 

“Food waste is the single largest type of waste entering our landfills -- Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food. Addressing this issue helps to combat hunger and save money, while also combating climate change. Food waste in landfills decomposes to create potent greenhouse gases and by reducing this waste we can in turn reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe. “I’m proud that EPA is joining with USDA today to announce the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. With the help of partners across the country, we can ensure that our nation’s food goes to our families and those in need – not the landfill.”

“The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Not only could this food be going to folks who need it – we also have an opportunity to reduce the amount of food that ends up in America’s landfills. By joining together with EPA and businesses from around the country, we have an opportunity to better educate folks about the problem of food waste and begin to address this problem across the nation.”

Americans send more food to landfills and incinerators than any other single municipal solid waste (MSW) – 35 million tons– even more than paper and plastic.  When wasted food is sent to landfills, it decomposes and becomes a source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In addition, the production and transportation of food has a number of environmental impacts; by reducing wasted food our society helps conserve energy and reduces environmental impacts.

In 2010, EPA began challenging organizations along the food lifecycle to adopt more sustainable practices through its National Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) program’s Food Recovery Challenge (FRC).  EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge provides direct technical assistance, a tracking system, and recognition to help support and motivate organizations to reduce their food waste.  Through the simple act of measuring food that is wasted, organizations can immediately identify simple changes that lead to big reductions More than 200 organizations are now participating in the Food Recovery Challenge.
More on the U.S. Food Waste Challenge: www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/index.htm

More on the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program and Food Recovery Challenge:  http://www.epa.gov/smm/foodrecovery/

R105

New Jersey Composter Taps Food Waste Opportunities :: BioCycle, Advancing Composting, Organics Recycling & Renewable Energy

New Jersey Composter Taps Food Waste Opportunities :: BioCycle, Advancing Composting, Organics Recycling & Renewable Energy

AG Choice Organics Recycling in Sussex County, New Jersey, grew out of a sawmill business that Jay Fischer started with his parents back in 1997. The Fischers had been selling sawdust to area horse farms for bedding and noticed many had an issue with stockpiled manure (an average horse can produce 9 tons a year). “We don’t have a lot of large farms around here,” explains Jay Fischer. “They are mostly smaller farmettes with two or three horses — and they don’t have the acreage to land apply the manure.” So the Fischers began hauling it back to their facility to compost — their first foray into organics recycling.

In 2005, Jay and his wife, Jill, incorporated Ag Choice as a full-fledged business and soon started taking in food waste from four ShopRite grocery stores, providing them with sealed 15 cubic yard (cy) lockable roll-off containers and utilizing their own trucks for hauling. Feedstock sources now include six ShopRites, two Costcos, the New Jersey Food Bank, a wholesale fruit and vegetable distributor, the occasional tractor trailer load full of spoiled bananas or sweet potatoes, and industrial organics from manufacturers arriving in packaging or containers ranging from individual packets to 55-gallon drums.

For more, click the link below:

New Jersey Composter Taps Food Waste Opportunities :: BioCycle, Advancing Composting, Organics Recycling & Renewable Energy

Food Processing Facility to Pay Nearly $700K in Penalties

News release from EPA Region 9:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 31, 2012                                                          

DOJ (202) 514-2007 / TDD (866) 544-5309                 
EPA (415) 947-4270


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO FOOD PROCESSING FACTORY WILL PAY NEARLY $700,000 IN PENALTIES,
SPEND $6 MILLION TO UPDATE REFRIGERATION SYSTEM SAFETY

Upgrades at South San Francisco Salami Factory Following Hazardous Ammonia Cloud that Left 17 Hospitalized

WASHINGTON – South San Francisco food processor Columbus Manufacturing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbus Foods LLC, has agreed to pay a penalty and make significant upgrades to settle Clean Air Act violations, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.  The case stems from two releases of anhydrous ammonia that occurred in 2009 at its manufacturing facility located in South San Francisco, Calif.  

The releases were the result of Columbus’ failure of its general duty of care to identify hazards and to maintain a safe facility and its failure to comply with regulatory requirements for process safety management under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act.

“This settlement appropriately penalizes Columbus for violations of the Clean Air Act that resulted in two illegal releases of poisonous gas that put the community at risk, including one release that caused the hospitalization of people in the affected community,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. “Today’s agreement will prevent future violations of the Clean Air Act safety standards by requiring Columbus to upgrade its refrigeration technology and emergency notification system.”  

“Columbus is responsible for letting plumes of poisonous gas escape into the open air,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest.  “Our goal is to safeguard neighbors and workers by requiring critical improvements to the company’s plant to prevent these industrial accidents from happening again.”  

As part of the consent decree announced today, Columbus will pay a penalty of $685,446 and spend approximately $6 million converting its refrigeration system to a safer technology that uses glycol and ammonia.  The company will also improve its alarm and ammonia release notification procedures.   

The first accidental ammonia release, in February 2009, sent 217 pounds of poisonous gases into the atmosphere. Six months later in August 2009, the plant again released an ammonia cloud, this time approximately 200 pounds of anhydrous ammonia was released into the atmosphere.  

The August incident resulted in the evacuation of all facility employees and several neighboring businesses.  Nearly 30 people from the downwind Genentech campus sought medical attention and 17 individuals were hospitalized.  One person remained hospitalized for four days.  In addition, off-ramps from Highway 101 and several local streets were shut down as a result of the release.  

EPA took action following the August 2009 incident, ordering Columbus to complete initial upgrades to its ammonia refrigeration system, including the replacement of safety relief valves and components with any signs of corrosion, and the proper labeling of all its piping.  In 2011, the company paid $850,000 in fines to San Mateo County as a result of the incident.   

Anhydrous ammonia is considered a poisonous gas.  Exposure to its vapors can cause temporary blindness and eye damage, and irritation of the skin, mouth, throat, respiratory tract and mucous membranes.  Prolonged exposure to anhydrous ammonia vapor at high concentrations can lead to serious lung damage and even death.  Anhydrous ammonia is one of the listed extremely hazardous substances to which Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act applies.

Enforcement of the general duty of care and of the regulatory requirements under Section 112(r)(1) and (7) of the Clean Air Act  is critical to ensuring that industry focuses on the safety of the public and the environment.  

For more information, including a copy of the consent decree lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, please visit:  www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/emerprep.html

# # #