Consulting firm looks at Maryland food waste

MSW Consultants, of Orlando, said it will partner with the Maryland Department of the Environment (DEP) to provide waste reduction opportunity assessments and technical assistance to two food processing or institutional food service provider facilities in Maryland.

MSW Consultants will work directly with the facilities to identify opportunities and solutions for food waste reduction, solid waste minimization and process optimization. Food waste comprises more than one third of the waste stream in Maryland, the firm said.

This project aims to demonstrate the benefits of food waste reduction by conducting opportunity assessments at two food processing facilities in Maryland. To encourage others to take similar steps, MDE will distribute tips, resources, and lessons learned from this project through newsletters, social media, and other communications to trade associations and business groups that could benefit from the information.

The participating organization will be asked to provide facility access and information to the MSW Consultants and in exchange will receive the following services free of charge:

A facility-wide audit to identify opportunities to reduce food waste and related environmental impacts.

Assistance in establishing a food waste tracking and measurement system.

A written report identifying food waste reduction and related opportunities, which may include energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, recycling, composting, procurement, transportation, and cleaning.

Assistance in prioritizing these opportunities based on return-on-investment, payback period, environmental impact, feasibility, and owner/management priorities, and an outline of next steps for implementation.

Interested companies should act now to take advantage of free technical services by contacting Joe Vetrano, project manager, MSW Consultants.

MSW Consultants was started in Maryland in 2004 and moved to Florida in 2014. The firm said its client base includes 75 city, county, state and private organizations across the U.S.