Farmers Market Goes Zero Waste

Zero Waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. Any trash sent to landfills is minimal. The process recommended is one similar to the way that resources are reused in nature.  The City of Davis Climate Action Team has recommended making Zero Waste a goal for the entire city, and while the Natural Resources Commission is making those policies, our town’s favorite gathering place and weekly event is leading the way.

(l to r) Michael Siminitus, Randii MacNear, and the Zero Waste Crew hope you'll pay attention to the new signage.

Davis Farmers Market launched its Zero Waste Program on March 17th, opening day of the Market’s 2010 Picnic in the Park Season in Central Park. The Market partnered with Waste Busters, a Northern California environmental consulting firm, to make some big changes in how the it handles the trash generated at Picnic in the Park.

The Market adopted a goal of “zero waste,” implementing programs and policies that improve the sustainability of the event by managing how it generates and disposes of trash and garbage. Randii MacNear, executive director of Davis Farmers Market, says,

“We cannot claim to be zero waste, but we have a plan to eventually come darn close to zero waste. We’re taking the first steps now.”

She says the amount of trash generated at the Market—and especially at Picnic in the Park—has been growing in the last few years as both the Market and the event have become more popular. “Last September, we worked with Waste Busters to study how much waste we generated.  “The study showed that the Market had a diversion rate (mostly from recycling) of only 9.8 percent, and on average, each market (Wednesdays and Saturdays) sent almost 600 pounds of garbage to the landfill. McNear adds,

“We’ve been working on a plan to reduce those numbers, with the goal of diverting over 90 percent of our trash away from the landfill. We’re doing that by purchasing compostable food containers, forks and knives from Excellent Packaging & Supply in Richmond, distributing them to all of our food vendors, and by composting and recycling more at every market.”

Forget the term "trashcan" and ask "Where's the closest Waste Diversion Station"?

As always on Wednesdays, 4:30–8:30 pm, during Picnic in the Park’s 33-week season from March 17 through October 27, market goers will be able to enjoy a wide variety of delicious, locally prepared foods.

But now, all food will be served on compostable plates; in fact all food service ware will be compostable. Instead of tossing used paper plates into trash cans (with the contents bound for the landfill), market goers sort their trash (into cans marked “Recycle”, “Compost” or “Landfill” ) at waste diversion stations.

For Picnic in the Park, most of the trash cans around the Market and Central Park are converted into 3-bin waste diversion stations. Market goers can help the Market by sorting what they toss into the appropriate can. Organics, like food and paper, go into the “Compost” cans, while bottles and cans go in the “Recycling” cans, and non-natural trash, such as film plastics, go into a trash can marked “Landfill.”

At opening day of Picnic in the Park, Market goers paid close attention to the new signs at each of the ten waste diversion stations. Many people studied the signs before discarding anything, while others noticed the signs after the habitual toss, realized their error and actually retrieved their discards for proper disposal. This new program will help Davis Farmers Market greatly reduce the amount of trash and waste materials that it sends to the landfill. That in turn will help reduce global warming impacts from waste.

When compostable organics go to the landfill, they produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. When those same materials are composted, they can be turned into a rich soil amendment that will be used to support plant growth. Compost is used to fertilize soil because it is rich in plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and other micro-nutrients. By adding organic matter to soil, compost also helps retain moisture.

On the first day the zero waste program was launched, the Market reached a diversion rate of 70 percent of the discards (by weight). Compost was the heaviest of the three streams separated (compost, recycle and landfill) with 150 pounds of compost going to Jepson Prarie Organics for composting.

Michael Siminitus, Waste Busters consultant, explains,

“This is about closing the loop. The conventional approach of fertilizing with non-organic fertilizers while burying food and other resources in the landfill doesn’t make sense anymore. The zero waste approach mimics nature, where every kind of waste is food for something else. By choosing the path of zero waste and composting, Davis Farmers Market is changing a climate problem into a climate and soil solution.”

Interestingly, Siminitus also points out that there are larger economic development opportunities in the Zero Waste movement.

Instead of using paper plates made from cut trees, the Farmers Market now uses plates made from bagasse, a material made from domestic agricultural wastes. This material is easily compostable and creates a market for materials otherwise thought of as “waste” and burned. New fiber processing plants could be located in our area if the economic signals were right – demand for the product and a plentiful and renewable supply of inputs from sustainable agriculture incorporating local compost could create many green jobs. Also, the PLA (polylacticacid) compostable cups are made from domestically grown crops and can be composted or recycled, compared to plastic cups made from imported oil and recycled overseas.

There is a large processor gap in California for dealing with compostable organic discards. Only 12 facilities exist in CA to compost food waste. More demand for compost and organics recycling will stimulate the creation of these facilities and accompanying green jobs. The waste stream is currently around 50% compostable organics, a climate liability in the landfill and a climate solution when composted.