Would Your Company Compost?

Googlers may be some of the best-fed employees in America, but diners at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Thunderbird Café may be some of the most environmentally-responsible. Much has been written about "Google culture", of course, and the fine, free food that employees at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California enjoy. As a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, SNL may not seem so "hip"; however, workers at the Albuquerque, New Mexico facility are going green without being green with envy.

Recently, SNL began diverting food prep waste and leftovers from a Rio Rancho landfill to a composting facility in Albuquerque's South Valley. This soil-building initiative is based upon a successful six-month pilot program that kept more than 15,000 pounds of wet food waste out of the dump. At the Thunderbird Café, kitchen staff put food scraps into bins lined with bags made from a compostable plant resin. Twice a week, a food-waste recycler named Soilutions picks up the bins and transports them to the city's south side. After any standing moisture is removed, the materials are combined with drier materials such as wood chips and grass.

Across America, plant managers and facilities engineers are trying to save money and go green. Would your company consider composting as part of its pollution prevention programs?

Sources: Google and SNL