St. Louis caterer turns trash to liquid
Butler’s Pantry, one of the largest caterers in St. Louis, is the first business in the Midwest to install a machine that turns food waste and disposable dishware into a liquid that can be safely flushed into the sewer in 24 hours.
The caterer bought the Orca Green composting machine for $40,000 from Green Smart Food Services and installed it at the end of March, said Butler’s Pantry President Richard Nix Jr.
Orca Green, which stands for organic refuse conversion alternative, uses micro-organisms to eat the food waste so it doesn’t have to be hauled to a dumpster and landfill.
The machine looks like a stainless steel dishwasher and processes 225 pounds to 240 pounds of organic waste each day at Butler’s Pantry. Nix said he expects the machine to pay for itself in a couple years thanks to savings in trash-hauling expenses. Butler’s Pantry has 300 part-time and 55 full-time employees and expects to report more than $5 million in revenue in 2010.
Read the full story in the St. Louis Business Journal.
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