With the help of Quest, one of the nation’s largest retailers\u00a0has developed a strong sustainability program over the last decade that focuses on financial stability and\u00a0environmental responsibility. The corporation set a goal to achieve zero waste across all global operations and has been working to\u00a0meet the lofty goal. To manage landfill diversion efforts for food waste, the retailer\u00a0relies on Quest Resource Management Group.<\/p>\n
As one of the largest grocery retailers in the nation, the company\u00a0boasted 4,880 locations in the United States under its corporate umbrella\u00a0in 2015. Combined, the retail locations generate more than 400,000 tons of food waste annually.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Effective program communication for more than 1 million employees
\n\u2022 Management of more than 70 organics recycling service providers
\n\u2022 Accurate reporting for all U.S. locations<\/p>\n
Quest developed a comprehensive food recycling program that built on the client’s\u00a0existing food donation efforts. The organics landfill\u00a0diversion program includes:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Direct animal feed
\n\u2022 Processed animal feed
\n\u2022 Composting
\n\u2022 Biodigesting<\/p>\n
Quest has been a trusted sustainability partner for the client’s\u00a0organics program since 2010. Quest provided a full-service program\u00a0to manage regional service providers physically collecting organic waste for recycling at individual stores. This approach provided the client’s\u00a0employees across the nation with a single point of contact for all customer service and organics bin collection requests.<\/p>\n
Quest\u2019s centralized billing and reporting provided ease of operation for the retailer. To ensure ongoing program success, onsite waste\u00a0audits and training were offered at various locations throughout the year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Recycle more than 406,000 tons of organics
\n\u2022 Achieve a landfill diversion rate of 99.99% for organics
\n– 50.23% recycled into processed animal feed
\n– 25.75% recycled as direct animal feed
\n– 20.91% composted
\n– 3.1% biodigested
\n\u2022 Prevent more than 35,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions
\n– The equivalent emissions nearly 930,000 cars produce in a year<\/p>\n
For an in-depth look at food waste and recycling,\u00a0download our Retail Food Waste in the U.S. white paper.<\/p>\n