At Blue Skies we’re all about going green. By using Blue Skies Recycling businesses can become more environmentally friendly, but what are you doing at home to reduce the amount of waste you create? Here at Blue Skies we love the idea of “upcycling”. So what is upcycling? One blogger simply explains it as “taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else”. Continue reading
Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada recently decided to take a chance on a new recycling program. All of the food waste from the casino’s kitchen will now be recycled through Full Compost Circle to create compost instead of going to the garbage. The casino is also currently recycling paper, cardboard, tin and aluminum. The property’s executive steward, Sergio Guzman, hopes to add glass to this list and get their recycling to at least 95% in the near future. Continue reading
Finding a commercial composting facility in many U.S. cities is a rarity. Many companies and restaurants are recognizing the benefits of composting, like Lou Malnati’s in Chicago, who discussed the idea with 20 neighborhood businesses according The Chicago Sun Times. A major holdback in Chicago, as well as other cities, is that there is a lack of commercial composting infrastructure. Organizations like School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Compost Education (SCARCE) are pushing to implement a commercial composting infrastructure in their city, stating that composting is the next green frontier. Continue reading
The goal of organics recycling is to break the habit of throwing everything into the trash. Organics recycling companies like Blue Skies Recycling can compost just about any food waste imaginable. Now, you might think adding an organics recycling program would at yet another expense to your business. However, Rusty Romo, a restaurant owner begs to differ. Continue reading
The Food Network recently broadcasted a show that highlighted the food waste epidemic in America. Four of the networks leading chefs (Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Michael Symon) were brought together to produce a gourmet meal with the ultimate challenge: they could only use food that was already on its way to the trashcan. What they thought was going to be an impossible quest shocked them all once they started out on their venture. Continue reading
Have you ever noticed that nearly everything we purchase is packaged in some form of cardboard? Even most food we eat, either bought at the grocery store or ordered off of a menu, was at one time packed and shipped in cardboard boxes – some recyclable and some not.
To help or readers understand the variety of cardboard products out there and how to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging waste, we ran a story detailing the dos and don’ts of recycling paper products in our last eNewsletter. Since then, many readers have reached out to ask about one item in particular: what exactly is waxed cardboard, and what is the proper way to dispose of it? Luckily Continue reading
Trader Joe’s recently attracted bad press for throwing away excess food in the garbage. The embarrassing fallout begs the question: What other options do businesses have for food waste disposal?
If only Trader Joe’s had composted its food waste (perhaps with a company like Blue Skies Recycling), it could have avoided a public relations disaster.
Last week, the grocer received activists’ scorn when a documentary filmmaker recorded Trader Joe’s employees throwing enormous bins of seemingly salvageable food in the trash. The activist website Change.org got involved and urged Trader Joe’s to change its food waste policy. The site’s online petition has 75,350 signatures (and counting). Continue reading
Get the Facts About Methane
Methane has gotten a lot of press lately. Just Google it and scroll through the first few pages of news results. You’ll not only see stories about the dangers of “fracking” and the benefits of landfill gas as a biofuel, but you’ll also learn about NASA’s plans to sail the methane seas of Saturn’s moon, Titan, and discover that a simple beer by-product can cut burping cows’ methane emissions.
And that’s just in the past month or so.
The diversity of information out there has left many confused about the facts. Make no mistake – methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas and should be taken seriously as a threat to our environment. Continue reading
Growing up, my best friend had a pet goat. “Jimmy-Jam” was notorious in our neighborhood for two things: his love of Pepsi (can and all), and breaking out of his pen to pillage through garbage cans at night.
From Jimmy-Jam to Gregory the Terrible Eater to those Aflac commercials, goats have always been known for eating anything and everything in sight. Don’t you sometimes wish you had a goat at your business for a quick easy way to dispose of your recyclables? Guilt-free recycling, right? Well, not exactly. Continue reading
“There are two primary items that restaurants and food services have that don’t typically get recycled—glass bottles and food waste,” says Harry Cohen, owner of Blue Skies Recycling in St. Louis, MO. So Cohen has signed up the St. Louis Cardinals and over 30 local restaurants to help keep these valuable commodities from going to the landfill.
In addition to the partnership with Busch Stadium operations and the local restaurants, Blue Skies also has a contract for organics and glass recycling at Edward Jones Dome convention center. At this point about 10 of the full-service bars and restaurants are recycling glass bottles. “We’re just in the process of ramping up the glass recycling. Food was where we started, but when you combine these that’s about 70% of the waste at these operations,” says Cohen. Continue reading