food waste<\/a> diverted from local landfills. Through Quest Resource Management Group\u2019s food recycling program, PrideRock receives an average of 2,000 pounds of much needed fresh meat for their big cats each week.<\/p>\nNot only does this food recycling partnership help the non-profit wildlife refuge feed animals in need, it combats greenhouse gas emissions from rotting food in landfills.\u00a0Decomposing food waste creates and releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas 25 percent more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>), into the atmosphere.\u00a0In addition, recycling one ton of food waste per week has the equivalent environmental benefit of removing 118 cars from the road for a year.<\/p>\nAs grocers pull meat from the shelves due to looming best by dates, the food is held for the participating animal park or wildlife refuge.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we get stuff that won\u2019t go out of date for another week, and sometimes we get stuff that the sell-by date was last week. But that doesn\u2019t mean the meat is bad,\u201d said Corey Allison, an animal keeper at PrideRock. \u201cThe meat that we take is good quality and it does help our cats,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n