Foundation Journal

Harvesters food bank in Kansas City kicked off a new project to provide unusable produce to Missouri Organic for their composting business. Prior to this initiative the food bank was disposing the rotten produce in the trash, which was destined for area landfills. The funding for the project was partially provided by a grant. The project included building a concrete pad behind the agency loading area to hold a dumpster, a garage door leading from the loading area to the pad, and a gravel drive leading to Topping Avenue. Harvesters pays Missouri Organic to transport the dumpster to their composting operation. Some of these photos depict the first dumpster provided to the composting business.

Construction of the pad to hold a bin for composting is nearly complete. The pad and gravel driveway are on the back lot at Harvesters in KC. Megan FitzGerald with Harvesters described a new composting initiative to provide a large quantity of waste vegetables and fruit to Missouri Organic . The effort redirects waste from a dumpster destined for the landfill to an operation that will recycle the material for compost for backyard gardens. She described the project as an exciting community program -- one that both employees and volunteers are eager to support because it improves Harvesters' efforts at sustainability and the green movement. The project required significant planning to ensure the processing of waste met food safety guidelines, did not require an abnormal amount of labor, and did not require an initial cash outlay. A cross-functional Harvesters team developed the idea and worked with the fundraising department to find grant money to pay for construction. Mid-Am...