According to ReFed, food manufacturing facilities generate 13.2 million tons of surplus food annually with a lost value of $41.9 Billion. 90% of the surplus food is byproduct and production line waste, that remains edible and can be collected and diverted for human consumption.
Barriers to realizing more impactful solutions for this valuable waste include a lack of end-markets, low landfill disposal costs, misalignment of costs and benefits, and information gaps.
When a food manufacturer recognizes they have significant food byproducts and production line waste that remains edible, there is an opportunity to impact food insecurities positively. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, along with new amendments passed in the Food Donation Improvement Act of 2021 (FDIA), encourages manufacturers to capture as much surplus food as possible and donate it to local organizations that support efforts to eliminate food insecurity. While the manufacturer knows their donation efforts are having a positive impact, they may not be fully quantifying the impact of their efforts and capturing valuable tax deductions due to a lack of data.
How Z3 helps measure and manage waste in Manufacturing
Z3 offers the manufacturer the opportunity to accurately measure and quantify their impacts, allowing the company to share their story with stakeholders and customers. Z3 offered the added benefit of measuring overall waste diversion rates, identifying opportunities to find new end markets for recyclables, and collecting data that is required when applying for federal tax incentives.
Z3 partners with the manufacturer to complete a survey of all end-of-life or byproduct materials the Food Manufacturer generates. The list includes municipal waste, mixed recycling, wood pallets, scrap metals, electronic waste, office paper, baled OCC, and plastic film. Additionally the facility generates a significant amount of organic byproducts including cooking oils and surplus food.
After building out a complete waste infrastructure, Z3 compiles and measures historical data, analyzing the data for trends and helping the company set future goals. Utilizing Zenbi, our automated data ingestion tool, Z3 efficiently ingests all future data, analyzes it for improvement opportunities, and provides auditable GHG impacts.
The Z3 client hotels see the following benefits:
- Increased accuracy and timeliness of reporting in to sustainability systems
- Reduction in administrative staff time to process waste data
- Opportunity to increase revenues by improving the marking of surplus commodity recyclable items.
- The ability to share their waste reduction story with employees, stakeholders, customers, and the community.
The Z3 solution allows the manufacturing client the opportunity to accurately measure waste and recycling activities and to share the impact of their diversion and food waste reduction efforts with the community.