The beautiful mid March weather has us in the mood to open our windows, break out the planters, and begin stirring the dirt in gardens. Read on the hear how IWRC Environmental Specialist Jason Clay introduced composting and energy conservation to Dayton, IA residents.
The USCC is a robust, action-packed, forward-thinking organization that advances compost manufacturing, compost utilization, and organics recycling to benefit its members, society and the environment and it has just named Iowa Waste Reduction Center’s Jennifer Trent as its new Board of Directors President.
For decades, EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy has served as the primary tool to help decision makers (i.e., state and local governments) understand and determine the best options for managing food waste (Environmental Protection Agency, 2023). The hierarchy was established in 1990, so needless to say, an updated version has been eagerly anticipated. Learn more...
Five students have left their mark at UNI’s Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) this summer, working across various internal and community-based projects. Paige German, Kendall Lienmann, Makayla Gasper, Eliana Hornbuckle, and Haley Christoffer may be from different universities, but they now have something in common: they all built a better Iowa through their work for the IWRC.
The summer is always a busy time for the Iowa Waste Reduction Center’s (IWRC) Food, Beverage & Organics program. This summer was no different. July and August in Iowa marks the height of the farmers market and community garden season so Program Manager, Jennifer Trent, and Environmental Specialist, Jason Clay loaded the car and set forth to visit three Iowa communities, Manchester, Iowa Falls, and Shenandoah to assist them with implementing both food donation and composting strategies as part of the USDA funded Community Gardens and Farmers Market Compost and Donation project.
Five years ago this November, the idea for the Iowa Green Brewery Project (IGBC) had just begun developing. The Iowa Waste Reduction Center was looking to continue providing free environmental assistance to Iowa businesses, but on a more specific level. The craft beer industry was a natural fit. Resource intensive, rapidly expanding statewide, and industry interest in environmental stewardship, the IGBC started to gain traction.
On September 26, the Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) was awarded a $76,300 Solid Waste Management Grant to fund the Community Gardens and Farmers Market Compost and Donation Project.
The Iowa Waste Reduction Center’s Jennifer Trent is invited to participate in the development of the City of Des Moines' first Climate Action & Adaptation Plan to address greenhouse gas emissions and help the community become more resilient to the effects of climate change.
IWRC Environmental Intern, Jordan Burrows, mapped rural Iowa food deserts with the goal of sharing findings with stakeholders who can assist food desert communities.
IACC mission: To promote the composting industry and the reduction, reuse, and recycling of the organic component of Iowa's waste stream through support of infrastructure development, quality control and ethical operations, operator training, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and general public education.
Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) staff, Joe Bolick, Director, Jennifer Trent, Program Manager, and University of Northern Iowa’s (UNI) Andrew Morse, Chief of Staff, are acknowledged for the input and feedback they contributed to the, “Opportunities to Reduce Food Waste in the 2023 Farm Bill” report released by Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC)
“PFAS” is a buzz word that you may have begun to hear in recent years, but what are these substances and chemicals all about? Are they actually harmful to humans and to the environment? PFAS, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances is a synthetic chemical that persistently remains in the environment and can be toxic to the human body. Unfortunately, PFAS is found widely in a number of products that many consumers use daily such as pizza boxes and other food packaging items, non-stick pots and pans, and stain and water repellent fabrics. The good news, however, is that the United States has stopped the manufacturing of these products. Unfortunately, they do continue to be imported into the country from other places.
The Iowa Waste Reduction Center is excited to announce the Regional Partnership for Food Waste Solutions, a USDA food waste grant program that we began work on in 2021. The goal of this project is to decrease the amount of food waste discarded in landfills through the facilitation of partnership building at a regional level. Building partnerships has the capacity to increase available opportunities that divert food waste from the landfill and also increases community engagement to address issues associated with food waste as well as available solutions.
We are excited to announce that Congressman David Young, who represents the 3rd District of Iowa, will be the opening keynote for the 2018 Midwest Food Recovery Summit.
The IWRC has just announced that the 2018 Midwest Food Recovery Summit will again host an Innovator Lightning Round and his year, with sponsorship from the Center for Business Growth and Innovation, the winner of the 2018 Lightning Innovator Round will walk away with $1,000.
We are 118 days away from the start of the 2018 Midwest Food Recovery Summit so it seems like a great day to announce our first 18 breakout speakers.
Starting your compost pile was easy, but now you have a few questions. Perhaps one major question...can this be composted? We all know veggie scraps and dry leaves can be added to your compost pile, but what about dryer lint? Don’t worry, the IWRC has you covered!
Every business has some sort of impact on the environment. Depending on the type of business, that impact can be pretty minimal or very significant.
Is your organization or business doing something incredible to reduce, recycle, or recover food waste? Do you have a great case study that can help others take action? If so, share it with the attendees at the 2018 Midwest Food Recovery Summit, taking place September 11-13, 2018 in Des Moines, IA.
We are excited to kick off 2018 with the announcement that the second Midwest Food Recovery Summit will be held September 11-13, 2018 in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.
Looking back, 2017 has been a fantastic year. Last year around this time, we looked ahead and shared an upcoming trend that we were excited about: food waste. Now, already a year later, it’s time to look ahead to 2018 and see where food waste is ranking.
As the IWRC opened into the beginning stages of the Iowa Rural Communities Food Waste Reduction Project, we were taking a new and exciting new step in the realm of food waste reduction. The idea of working with whole communities as opposed to a single entity is a very positive step in our mission to reduce unnecessary waste in Iowa.
In planning and implementing the event, the IWRC knew we wanted sustainability to be at the forefront of our efforts so here are six measures that were taken at the summit to do just that.
Looking back, we are very proud of what transpired at the first ever Midwest Food Recovery Summit.
The Iowa Waste Reduction Center is partnering with the Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus’ Culinary Arts & Restaurant Management program to host a cooking competition using food scraps.
We are nearing the 100 day mark until the Midwest Food Recovery Summit!
BioCycle, the leading organics recycling authority, has become the first announced partner for the upcoming Midwest Food Recovery Summit, hosted by the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa, taking place on September 6-8 in Des Moines, IA.