California’s Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling program expanded its reach Jan. 1, 2017, to include all businesses that generate 4 cubic yards or more of organic waste per week. EnviroPure Systems commercial food waste disposal systems offer a one-step solution for converting food waste into safe gray water, allowing businesses to meet the recycling requirement conveniently and achieve even greater sustainability.

On-site EnviroPure systems break down food waste in 24 hours through a combination of mechanical processing and aerobic decomposition.

Food waste can be deposited into the EnviroPure system directly or through a remote grinder that eliminates the need to sort, transport and store food waste — reducing labor and eliminating the pests and odor that accompany food waste storage.

“EnviroPure’s easy-to-use, one-step system can be smoothly integrated into existing workflow, enabling businesses to boost their sustainability efforts and reduce labor needs, all while meeting the legal requirements,” said Jona Gallagher, national sales manager for EnviroPure.

In addition, by eliminating the need to haul food waste to a central composting facility, EnviroPure helps remove trucks from the road, further decreasing carbon footprint and increasing sustainability in business operations.

Chapman University in Orange, Calif., adopted EnviroPure three years ago as part of its campus-wide sustainability initiatives.

“Composting was going to add substantially to our waste management bill and result in the organic waste being trucked two hours into the desert, so the environmental impact was still going to be large from our food waste,” said Mackenzie Crigger, energy conservation and sustainability manager with Chapman University.

“EnviroPure saves us money and got most of our food waste out of our landfill stream long before the state was requiring us to take action,” she said.

A 2014 analysis by CalRecycle, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, shows organic waste constitutes 34 percent of California’s waste stream. The 6 million tons of discarded food waste alone represents about 18 percent of all material going to landfills each year.

The California law, which began applying to businesses producing 8 cubic yards or more of organic waste per week in April 2016, is part of the state’s goal of achieving 75 percent recycling by 2020.

EnviroPure’s digestion process generates a gray water byproduct that meets or exceeds municipal wastewater requirements. For more information on EnviroPure, including an inside look at how the system works, visit www.enviropuresystems.com.