Food Waste Public Drop-Off Location
Food waste drop-off location for residents? – This is a question we receive frequently here at Momentum Recycling. Many residents do not have access to a curbside compost bin, let alone one that can accept all your food waste (i.e. meats, dairy, etc.). Finding the right location too is key: no one wants to haul stinky food waste around in their car. This year, we tried out a way to offer a food waste drop-off location for Salt Lake City residents by partnering with a local company conveniently located near multi-family buildings downtown.
With the help of a local, sustainability small business owner, we are making this possible! Abbey Muse, owner of Animalia – a Salt Lake City based store offering handmade goods from independent brands and bulk re-fill dispensary – is a local leader paving the way in environmental stewardship. With her spunk, motivation, and passion for the environment, she is finding new ways to tackle climate change and waste issues in her local community. By providing a bulk re-fill dispensary for many household cleaners, as well as hygiene and beauty products, she is helping mitigate the plastic waste that is constantly generated by consumerism. In addition, Animalia offers a wide variety of handmade products, gifts, and accessories. Abbey is driven to help support local and independent brands to not only push society away from mass manufacturers that generate so much of the waste on this planet, but also help people reconnect to the goods that they buy and the people that make them.
Now that you know a little about Abbey, I want to share with you Momentum Recycling’s connection to her environmental innovations. Among much discussion, trial and tribulations, Animalia was determined to help provide local residents with a solution for food waste. Abbey and her co-worker McKell became acquainted with our food waste program and decided to give it a go. They would charge people a drop off fee for food waste per a 5-gallon bucket to solely cover their costs to offer the service. When speaking to Abbey, she expressed how and why she was going to make it work: “If we want behavioral change, it needs to be relatively easy! Momentum’s food waste program is exactly that. People can throw really anything food-related into a bin and not have to separate the foods cooked in oils, or the meats, or the processed foods, or anything. Y’all have made it so simple to incorporate eco-friendly habits into our modern, busy, daily lives, which is appreciated.”
Since beginning service in February, Animalia and its supporters of the food waste program have diverted over 7,000 pounds of food waste! This food waste is coming from family homes, apartments, and even restaurant employees. The dedication and participation behind this project is paving the way for the future of food waste diversion. “My favorite thing about this program is hearing people so excited about it. People keep saying that because of this program, the amount of trash they produce has gone down significantly! One woman said her family of 5 went from filling up a kitchen-sized trash can full of waste to less than a gallon every week. It’s really wonderful to see people making individual efforts, which grow into communal ones,” said Abbey.
We are more than thrilled to work with such an amazing individual like Abbey. As a business and a sustainable outlet, we have had the opportunity to connect with awesome people in the environmental community, along with great restaurant owners and entrepreneurs who are doing their best to preserve our local environment. Our food waste program is helping divert food from the landfill to be turned into natural gas to then power Utah homes.
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