BOISE, Idaho — Boise State University is making strides to help our environment by trying to reduce the amount of food waste that goes into landfills. Now, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is looking to support those efforts.
"They already have a lot of long track record of implementing food waste diversion at the school," DEQ Pollution Prevention and Continuous Improvement Lead Ben Jarvis said.
The DEQ awarded the university $73,200 that BSU plans on using to focus on reducing residence hall food waste by purchasing a food waste digester.
"The food waste digester is going to be able to take all the solid food that is coming out of the front and back of house operations, including things like meat, fish, poultry and other things that normally would not be available composting," Jarvis said. "They are anticipating that they will be able to divert approximately 47,600 pounds of landfill away by implementing this digester."
The grant is coming from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable Materials Management Program. The agency says their goal is to help other environmental organizations and efforts to better help our environment.
“The grant project is all directed to the increase of waste that is going to be diverted from landfill and that can take the form of construction and demolition waste, food waste, increasing recyclable materials or reducing packaging,” he said.
Jarvis says there is still money left over from the budget, so they will be offering another opportunity for more local organizations to get involved.
“If you're involved in with the solid waste district, local government. If you have a material management solid waste diversion type of concern, this grant funding is going to become available here really soon,”Jarvis said.
Jarvis says they will post new opportunities on their Facebook page and website later this year.
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