Green and brown waste from Foster’s is delivered by the new Islands Waste Carrier truck to Beacon Farm’s composting facility in North Side. – Photos: Supplied
Food waste and discarded cardboard boxes and pallets from Foster’s supermarkets, that would otherwise end up in the George Town landfill, are being ferried to Beacon Farms in North Side where they are being composted.
More than 30,000 pounds of green waste – fruit and vegetables unfit for human consumption – from Foster’s Airport supermarket alone has made its way to the non-profit farm’s composting facility.
The farm, which offers second chances to recovering addicts, has partnered on the initiative with Foster’s and Island Waste Carriers.
It started with a pilot programme in August last year when the three organisations teamed up to take the waste from Foster’s Airport to the farm.
Now, following the success of that pilot, Island Waste Carriers has invested in a new truck so the programme can be rolled out to all Foster’s supermarkets and other large-scale waste producers.
“The programme is a win-win for all involved,” said Sandy Urquhart, chief operating officer at Beacon Farms, in a statement. “It’s an environmentally friendly waste management process which results in wonderful, nutrient-rich compost we can use to fertilise crops and improve the quality of soil. Our aim is to scale up compost production at Beacon Farms so we can sell high-grade local compost to other farmers as well.”
He said Beacon Farms can produce around 400 tons of compost per year at its state-of-the-art static aeration compost facility, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean.
Brown waste, such as cardboard, sawdust, pallets, dry leaves and grass cuttings, is broken down in the farm’s Morbark chipper before being mixed with green waste.
Then, aeration pads accelerate the natural composting process by forcing air into the decomposing piles, producing temperatures up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which kill any weeds, seeds and harmful pathogens.
Beacon Farms is currently fundraising to triple the size of its facility.
“Soil quality is one of the major challenges to farming on a commercial scale in the Cayman Islands,” said Urquhart, who has transformed five acres of rocky land into fertile fields at Beacon Farms.
“Our rock-crushing machine has been a game changer for us, and we are now working with other farmers on land improvement projects. Compost is critical to the process, so we are grateful to Foster’s and IWC for providing us with a steady supply of compostable materials.”
The Foster’s team segregates and sorts the materials at their source, with green waste stored in locked bins to avoid contamination and collected by Island Waste Carriers for transportation to the farm.
“Whenever we can, we aim to divert waste from going to the landfill,” said Jason Brown, Island Waste Carriers managing director. “We are excited about the potential of expanding this programme to hotels and other commercial properties and the impact this will have on environmental health in Grand Cayman.
“We even have schools interested in participating as a sustainability initiative and are already working with Montessori by the Sea to collect their compostable waste.”
He said that while at this stage his company does not have the capacity to collect food waste from residential properties, there could be potential for expansion of the programme in the future. In the meantime, the focus is on bulk waste producers.
According to Woody Foster, managing director of Foster’s, which has six locations across Grand Cayman, the supermarket group has sought to find an environmentally responsible solution to the inevitable waste produced by supermarkets.
He said that while every effort is taken to reduce food waste through careful inventorying, and discounting or donating food that is still edible by humans or animals, some amount of wastage is unavoidable.
“As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Foster said. “We are delighted to see waste being put to such good use, with long-term benefits for local farmers and food production in the Cayman Islands.”
Commercial properties interested in compostable waste collection services can contact Island Waste Carriers on 946-3867 or by email at Jason@iwc.ky.
