Central Market Limiting its Environmental Impact

Central Markets, a regional, locally owned and operated grocery chain,  is deploying  WISErg's Harvester unit at its Mill Creek, WA store.  The Harvester is intended to support the store’s ongoing efforts to limit its environmental impact by controlling, reducing and recycling its food scraps and other organic waste.  With the Harvester, the store can cleanly collect and convert food scraps into a material that can be refined into organic fertilizer using a completely natural process.  Additionally, the Harvester will generate data that Central Market Mill Creek can leverage to better manage inventory and control the loss associated with perishables.

“Central Market Mill Creek generates 330 tons of organic waste each year,” said Tony D’Onofrio, T&C Markets sustainability director. “We already divert 85 percent through composting, recycling and donations – but we are committed to meeting a goal of 90 percent.  The Harvester will help us in this endeavor, and give us the added benefit of usable data that can pinpoint where we can reduce shrinkage, whether that is at the loading dock or behind the service counters.”

The 56,500 sq. ft. Central Market Mill Creek is the newest store in the chain and offers its most expansive produce, meat and deli markets.  Due to the size of these fresh food areas, the store is an ideal candidate for leveraging the benefits of the WISErg Harvester.  The Harvester captures nutrients from food scraps before they become waste, stabilizing them until they can be transported to a WISErg facility where they are converted into a liquid fertilizer approved for organic food production.

“WISErg is partnering with growers, grocers, restaurateurs and companies with large corporate cafeterias to revolutionize recycling,” said Larry LeSueur, CEO, WISErg. “By looking at food scraps as a resource rather than waste, we can develop a virtuous circle of food production and consumption via a closed loop within the food industry, taking us from grower to grocer to consumer and back to the grower in the form of organic fertilizer.  We’re pleased to have Central Markets join us in this effort.”

The WISErg Harvester will be operational at the Central Market Mill Creek site in February.