The United States has a severe food waste problem. Luckily, a team of entrepreneurs, investors and infrastructure builders are using garbage to solve that major problem.
These men and women are using garbage to grow more fruits and vegetables. It was reported that over $200 billion is being spent annually just to grow, process, deliver and dispose of over 60 million tons of food. That same amount of food never gets eaten.
There is an excessive food waste problem in the country and according to reports, an organization called California Safe Soil has invented a technology that takes organic food waste and turn it into organic fertilizer using enzymes to grow more fruits and vegetables with less water use.
This requires a lot of infrastructure and building but it is a necessary goal. California Safe Soil fertilizer reduces trash headed to landfills and the use of toxic fertilizers. The California Safe Soil fertilizer, called Harvest to Harvest ("H2H"), does not have the same chemical ingredients that most crop fertilizers have.
But this is still a business. While the environment will benefit from the goal, making profit is also necessary which is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the business model.
Grocery stores typically pay between $70 and $120 a ton to have their food waste removed. They would pay less if they use the California Safe Soil service. Going down the supply chain, farmers also make more produce with less water using the product. California Safe Soil CEO Dan Morash says that t is part of sustainability. "Sustainability is about environmental and economic," says Morash.
Another challenge is getting farmers and grocery stores to change their existing behaviors.
If the project pushes through and will be widely adapted then there will be a lot of garbage that will be put to good use.
