Dive Brief:
- Former Microsoft employees Jose Lugo and Larry LeSueur found a way to parlay their business background and high-tech knowledge to help combat food waste in the U.S. In 2010, they founded WISErg, to do something productive with food waste.
- The company’s co-founders created the firm to address the problem of food waste, the cause of which they and others were not sure of when the firm was started. A 2012 Natural Resources Defense Council report states that about 40% of the food in the U.S. is not eaten.
- For two years, WISErg studied how food waste happens in a retail market, by observing the process in one of PCC Natural Markets’ Washington state stores. With the assistance of engineers, biologists, and computer programmers, in 2010 the firm created The Harvester. The machine transforms food into a liquid that can be converted to organic fertilizer. After it is converted from food waste to liquid, that liquid is picked up by a pumping company and delivered to a WISErg processing plant. The WISErg fertilizer product that is created is sold to farmers, and also to consumers in stores.
Dive Insight:
WISErg is using its technology to create 15,000 gallons of fertilizer each month. The machine has been installed in two national grocery store chains, including Whole Foods Market. The success of The Harvester has helped WISErg get recent investments of $14 million.
"It’s not about just how much goes out the back door but why it goes out the back door," Le Sueur said. "My job is to make that product go out the front of the store so you can get paid for it."
