Food Scrap Management

Composting at Special Events

• What you should know about your event
• State fairs, festivals, sporting events (multiple food vendors)
• Conferences, workshops (catered or buffet-style)
• Case studies

What You Should Know About Your Event

Do you have dedicated staff to oversee a food diversion project?
Food collection doesn't happen by itself. Staff is needed to locate, monitor, empty, and clean collection bins consistently throughout the event. Staff should also make educational signs for patrons, and train vendors to separate food trimmings. They must also routinely check for bin contamination and overflow problems and relocate bins if necessary. 

How many meals will be served? How many attendees are expected?
This will help estimate the number of collection containers needed. The volume of scraps to be handled will increase significantly if compostable plates and cups are collected instead of reusable kitchenware. Encourage visitors to bring their own cups, plates, and utensils.

What type of food scraps and collection bags will the compost facility accept?
Check with the compost facility or end processor to determine if certain scraps generated at your event are acceptable, such as incidental cheeses, sauces, meat scraps, waxed cardboard, or various paper products. Collection bin liners can help improve bin cleanliness and reduce residual odors, but if they are made of nonbiodegradable plastic, ask if the compost operator can handle these materials. Be sure to provide bins for noncompostable and other recyclable materials next to food collection bins.

Will there be kitchen trimmings or postconsumer food (plate scrapings) only?
If both preconsumer vegetable trimmings and postconsumer food scraps are collected, several elements can be affected: total volume of scraps collected, limitations on who can accept these scraps, increased potential for contamination, and the target group for education (kitchen staff and/or diners). Noncontaminated kitchen prep trimmings, such as corn husks, lettuce, and onion culls, may be suitable for hog farms, animal feed operations, or composters that can accept agricultural residuals. Large quantities of postconsumer scraps should be taken to a permitted compost facility. For catered events, ask the caterer what type of scraps, if any, are expected to be generated.

Will reusable flatware and utensils be used?
Using washable kitchenware will significantly reduce the volume and handling of compostable materials. Encourage patrons to bring their own cups, plates, and utensils. If the event is catered or buffet-style, ask the caterer to provide reusable dishware and utensils. Some caterers may request a fee for the additional handling of reusable dishware, so be prepared to negotiate a price. If reusable items cannot be obtained, use biodegradable utensils and plates. Although this will greatly increase the volume, it will reduce potential problems of plastic contamination during source separation. If the collected food scraps are in a small quantity and free from plastic contamination and meats, you will likely have more options in finding an end processor. Also, you will need less bins, less space on loading dock, etc.

Are there large amounts of meat and grease that can be rendered?
Since some amounts of meat can be problematic for some composters, consider having meat, bone, grease, and oils collected by a renderer. Coordinate with a local or regional renderer to provide drums and collection service for these materials from your event.

Where will food be donated or composted?
If you anticipate vendors having leftover food that is still edible, ask a local food bank or food rescue program ahead of time to arrange for delivery.

Who will transport the food?
Unless you are composting on site, don't forget the missing link in your plan—the hauler. Hauling can be as simple as using a small pickup truck to haul scraps to someone's ambitious backyard compost pile. But for large events, you may need a front end loader to pick up 2- or 4-yard bins, or a box van for edible foods. The end processor, whether it is a food bank, hog farm, or composter, may provide or arrange this service.

Additional tips

• For annual or one-time events, ask caterers, haulers, and composters if they could provide services in exchange for free publicity. Offer to prominently display bin signs or banners for their services if the venue allows it.
• During initial planning, emphasize California's waste reduction goals with event coordinators, sponsors, and administration. Let them know that your food diversion efforts complete the recycling ethic of separating other commodities such as cans and bottles.
• Although food diversion can avoid disposal costs, anticipate some additional costs—whether for biodegradable products and recycled content products, transportation costs, or miscellaneous surcharges.

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State fairs, festivals and sporting events with multiple food vendors

The majority of waste generated by food consumers at public events is not actually food. However, there is great potential for a significant volume of compostable materials to be collected, including biodegradable products (cups, plates and utensils) and, of course, food scraps.

Source separation of recyclables (glass, plastic, cans), organics (food, paper products), and garbage at large public events can be difficult unless organizers provide clear signage and strategically placed collection bins to minimize cross-contamination. Always provide a garbage bin beside every food scrap and recycle bin. The use of biodegradable products also may reduce the need to source separate materials as long as the compost facility will accept them.

Food preparation trimmings—or pre-consumer food— from vendors should also be collected.  Inform food vendors early about your plans to collect food scraps. You may want to require their cooperation through contractual language to source separate food scraps for food rescue and composting collection. A local rendering company may be able to provide drums and collection service to vendors that produce meat scraps and grease.

Catered or buffet-style meals such as conferences and workshops

Catered and buffet-style events offer greater opportunity to control the flow of food scraps since only one food service provider is involved. Therefore, your choice of caterer is critical to the success of your food diversion efforts. Ask potential caterers if they can provide reusable dishware or biodegradable products, and inquire about their willingness to separate pre- and post-consumer food scraps (if tables are bussed).  Reusable dishware will considerably reduce the number of scrap bins needed and will provide the end food processor with a much higher proportion of actual food scraps.

If tables are bussed by food servers, set up a small food collection bin at a convenient location along the bussing table and instruct staff about what organic materials are acceptable. If there is perishable but edible food left, consider taking this food to a food rescue program.

If diners are responsible for their own plate scrapings, ensure that bin signage is clear and visible. Collection of compostable materials may have more success and less contamination if patrons can throw biodegradable products into bins instead of separating food from nonbiodegradable products, such as foam or plastic plates, cups, and utensils. Contamination problems can occur even if separate garbage and food bins are placed next to each other with good signage.

Case Studies

The 2002 UC Davis Whole Earth Festival significantly reduced the volume of food/biodegradable scraps by implementing a deposit system for reusable plates, cups and utensils for a nominal fee. This waste prevention measure cut the volume of biodegradable waste by more than half of previous years. The 3-day event had 16 food vendors and approximately 30,000 attendees. At the end of the festival, organic residuals were mixed with straw and manure and composted on campus. 

The San Francisco Moscone Center Fancy Food Tradeshow diverted 25 tons of fresh and packaged food to two local food donation banks. The show is attended by thousands of food business buyers to see and taste 50,000 different fine and specialty products. Close coordination between staff, contractors, and volunteers helped deliver foods, such as wrapped candies, cheeses and olives, to homeless shelters, transitional housing, seniors and other nonprofit warehouses in the Bay Area. Annually, approximately 75 tons of food is donated from Moscone Center events.

Over 400 pounds of food scraps were collected and composted from the California Resource and Recovery Association's annual conference held in Sacramento in 2000. During the 3-day event, eight meals were served to 300-700 persons per meal. Although a surcharge was assessed for reusable dishware for both the buffet and catered meals, fewer collection bins and storage area were needed. Bins, transportation, and composting services were donated by sponsors whose names were prominently displayed on the collection containers.

More information on diversion at large venues and special events
To learn more about how to reduce and recycle other waste materials, visit the Board’s related venue facilities and special events website. This site includes downloadable model policies, fact sheets, case studies, resource links and other useful information

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Last updated: June 11, 2008