Food Waste

Food is too good to waste.

40% of the food grown in the US is never eaten. Nationwide, food waste (food scraps) make up the largest component of material that gets buried in landfills – approximately 22% or over 30 million tons per year. It’s estimated that as much as 30% of the waste stream is compostable. In Ulster County, that equates to about 33,000 tons or organics that could be diverted through reduction and composting.

Wasting food wastes everything; all the water, land, fertilizer, fuel, and energy used to grow and transport that good also goes to waste. In Canada, America, and Mexico combined, the impact of food waste is estimated to be about 168 million tons per year. Looking at the whole lifecycle impact of this waste:

18 billion cubic meters of water gets wasted each year, enough to fill 7 million Olympic sized swimming pools
3.9 million tons of fertilizer gets wasted
193 million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to 41 million cars per year
260 million people could be fed with edible food that goes to waste
274 million homes could be powered by the wasted energy
$278 billion per year USA – $2 billion spent on landfill tipping fees
39 million cubic meters of landfill space

Food Waste Reduction Tips

View our new Home Guide to Reducing Food Waste!

Simple, small acts make a huge difference in preventing food loss and reducing food waste. Our Home Guide to Reducing Food Waste explains easy, practical tips and best practices that every family can do to eat more of the food that’s already in their homes, and learn how to plan to shop with food waste in mind!

View our Business Waste Reduction & Recycling Guidebook!

Businesses, schools, and institutions play a huge role in reducing the amount of food that goes to waste. In our Business Waste Reduction Guide, learn food waste reduction tips for specific types of facilities (p.13-14). Learn about the three different tracks for composting options for businesses and schools (p. 27-31). And learn about donating excess edible foods (p. 32-33).

Organics Recycling Options in Ulster County

Commercial Composting Options (for businesses, schools, facilities, etc.)	Residential Composting Options (for homeowners, renters, etc.)
Manage food scraps with on-site composting	Backyard Composting
Hire a Hauling Service	Hire a Hauling Service
Self-Haul to a Composting Site	Self-Haul to a Community Drop-Off Site
	Start a community garden/communal composting program

Connecting Communities Through Composting

Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency has been operating a large scale composting operation since 2012. Our Partners in Composting Program has supported organics recycling programs for many local events, organizations, municipalities, and large and small businesses across the Region. With the passage of mandatory composting laws both at the local and state level, UCRRA is continuing to grow our local composting program and encourage Ulster County businesses and municipalities to take advantage of this service. Composting not only promotes climate-smart practices by reducing greenhouse gas impacts from waste, but it also significantly reduces waste disposal costs, among other environmental and social benefits. Residents, businesses, and schools play an important role in helping the Agency achieve it’s waste reduction and recycling goals in Ulster County. Help us Grow Ulster Green and pledge to end wasted food!

UCRRA accepts source-separated organics (food scraps) from commercial facilities that are enrolled in our Partners in Composting Program. Contact Angelina Brandt, Director of Sustainability, for an application or to learn more about this program. UCRRA provides a high level of consultation services, educational resources, training programs, and tools to launch successful composting programs at any scale or location!

Learn more about our Partners in Composting Program

Learn more about our Grow Ulster Green Compost

Learn more about our Recycling Outreach Team