Innovation and entrepreneurship is extremely relevant regarding food waste as world hunger is a wicked problem businesses are trying to solve. In order for one to live amore sustainable lifestyle, composting and recycling one’s food scraps can decrease one’s waste and benefit the environment by decreasing the waste stream sent to the landfills that often break down and cause an increase in greenhouse gases. 20% of residential trash is made up of food scraps according to the EPA.
The entrepreneurs I found work in the Food Scrap Recycling/composting program in Scarsdale, NewYork. Natalie Warhit, a senior at Muhlenberg college who is also a sustainability studies major gave me the contact information of Ron Schulhof and Michelle Sterling as they were her bosses last summer. I emailed both Ron and Michelle but had only a back and forth with Ron who was extremely responsive. Both of them are part of the Conservation Advisory Council which helped enable the scrap program to begin with. Ron, the chair of CAC, and Michelle helped write the proposal for funding for the program by providing research and showing there was a need for it in the community and emphasized how the program would result in positive impacts on the community by increasing recycling and reducing the amount of trash sent to the county incinerator. Ron and Michelle came up with an estimated cost to the towns sanitation budget of only an extra $13,000to $26,000 in fees to dispose the food scraps at a composting facility. Because the weekly scrap pickups are done at the same time as the regular trash pickup,no extra labor or capital costs are needed. In addition, the council researched the efficiency of the sanitation department and found that no new staff or major changes would be necessary for the new program addition.
I learned more about how the program works as it requires a lot of careful planning and organization. To start households must first register for pickup to be included in the sanitation departments food scrap route and must fill out the online form. Households must then also purchase village approved food scrap bins which are sold at the recycling center office ranging from 20 to 25 dollars.
Compostable bags are also for sale. The third step of the process includes the weekly food scrap pickup which occurs during regular trash pickup on Monday or Tuesday.However, if a household misses the food scrap pick up day, the recycling center is also open for resident food scrap drop offs throughout the week. The program accepts all food but non compostable should not be mixed in with compostable.. Though some households are hesitant to participate in the recycling of food because they deem it as inconvenient due to the need to bring their scraps to the drop offsite if they miss the Monday or Tuesday pick up, other households are highly engaged in the program because of the ease of weekly pickups available.
The power of networks taught me that not only can I learn valuable information readily and easily just from reaching out, but I also can gain a potential contact for future internships. I live in New York, and if I am interested and because of my contact withNatalie, I can probably intern there like she did and learn even more about sustainable composting. I was pleasantly surprised with how open and willing Ron was in speaking and giving me information on the program and how excited he was to hear about my major in sustainability. I hope I have established a network that will be benefit me in the future if I refer to Ron for business opportunities and just learning and growing as a sustainable individual.
I would be really excited if I could bring a food scrap and recycling program to my town in Long Island as it is very successful not too far away. Networking in this way has given me new ideas and motivation to bring sustainability to my community. If I am to build a successful program, I can refer to Ron for mentoring and advice on how to start and go about organizing the program as he went through the exact same thing.His eagerness to share his knowledge and give me feedback is a huge benefit from networking.
