Recovering and repurposing food waste is very much product- and package-dependent: snack food scraps, confectionary residuals, cheesy by-products, pre-packaged condiments, and expired or near-date milk and half-and-half are all handled differently. After years of scientific research, millions of tons of food-waste recovery, and successfully repurposing all kinds of food products, Green Field Solutions is introducing a game-changing solution for ice cream waste.
While dairy by-products have long been repurposed for the livestock feed industry, applying similar techniques to recovering ice cream waste is groundbreaking. The solution lies in a complex and cost-efficient combination of logistics routines, material handling techniques, specialty equipment, scientific analysis, market expertise and strategic partners:
- Logistics – Our wide geographic network helps keep freight costs low.
- Material handling – Our technologies streamline processes and maximize value.
- Equipment – We use specialized equipment in strategic new ways.
- Scientific analysis – We use science to identify optimal solutions for difficult problems.
- Market expertise – Our product and market expertise maximizes the material’s value.
- Strategic partners – We work alongside our partners to explore new breakthroughs.
Ice Cream Waste: Material Handling Obstacles
Expired or near-date dairy products like milk and ice cream often are destroyed or discarded at the retail site. Until now, few options were available to food manufacturers and retailers to keep ice cream waste from hitting the landfill or being land spread.
Like milk, ice cream in its liquid state can require steep material handling and freight costs. In addition to a vast logistical network, Green Field Solutions utilizes special equipment to re-characterize the liquids. As the logistical savings and the material pricing in the marketplace add up, we’re able to make sustainable solutions for ice cream waste make sense.
Unlike milk, the emulsifiers in ice cream turn it to a very different substance as it is being dried. From physical consistency to its nutritional composition, our scientists have extensively studied the deliciously frozen dessert so that our partners in the feed industry can formulate their feed with reliable ingredients derived from ice cream.
Incentivizing Sustainable Waste Management
Historically, cost has been an unfortunate barrier to sustainable waste management solutions. But it doesn’t have to be! The recovery of organic scraps and by-products can, ultimately, incentivize sustainable waste management practices by turning one company’s trash into another farmer’s treasure.
Long-term financial benefits of sustainable waste management systems can be realized in many ways, like reduced energy costs, transportation expenses and waste disposal fees. And on a magnanimous scale, repurposing rather than land spreading or landfilling results in lower feed costs for farmers, fewer requirements for grown feed stuffs, a smaller carbon footprint and a more secure food supply chain.
