Hotel reports success from food composting program

April 13 -- Trash collections were cut in half at the Hilton Garden Inn in Devens, Mass., thanks to a food composting program launched by its kitchen staff.

The kitchen went from four trash collections per month to two and now uses an on-call trash removal service, according to Nashoba Publishing, a group of weekly newspapers in Massachusetts.

The hotel opened in late October and the composting program began three months later. The staff received advice from the Eco-Efficiency Center, which offers free technical assistance to institutions and businesses.

"We´ve seen the program get stronger over time as far as how confident and proficient this staff is," Eco-Efficiency Center Director Dona Neely told the paper. "I look in their bins and rarely see any food materials in the trash cans, and we see an increase in the amount of food being captured in the compost bin."

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Vince Bond at vbond@crain.com or 313-446-1653.

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