Dive Brief:

• Northern Illinois Food Bank, thanks to a new food waste compactor and expnded work space will recycle food waste. The Geneva, IL site also recycles plastic and paper.
• Republic, a major waste and recycling firm, has been contracted by the center to pick up the food waste and compost it.
• The firm will collect food waste from the center and mix water and landscape waste with it, then place it into large tanks where it will be mixed until it becomes humus. After about six months more of allowing the waste to degrade, the compost will be packaged and shipped to merchants.

Dive Insight:

In a somewhat rare display of private funding of composting, Northern Illinois Food Bank was able to get donors to pay for the $760,000 upgrade that enables the center to compost food waste. The effort mirrors others throughout the nation, in what seems to be a growing trend of municipalities and school districts capturing food waste, which can be used as compost, fertilizer and to create electricity.