Recycling

Disposables and Trash in the Energy Zone

Since 1994 all polystyrene items and trash used in food services are being processed into electricity, a process known as “waste to energy” at the energy resource recovery system (ERRS) facility in Lorton, VA.  We also strive to use as much recyclable paper as possible.

In the 1980’s in an effort to preserve millions of gallons of water, school cafeterias were asked by Fairfax County to discontinue the use of dishwashing machines.  This required the Office of Food and Nutrition Services to purchase recyclable trays and utensils. We know of no “cardboard” trays, but there are “fiberboard” trays, that are made of recycled cellulose fiber, more rough hewn than paperboard cardboards, or corrugated cardboard.  These are made of the same material that’s used in cup carriers at Wendy’s or McDonalds.  The trays are also almost 40% to 80% more expensive.  The packaging takes up a little less space, weighs much more, but compacting foam trays after they are used and discarded yields much less space used in waste disposal.  Fiberboard does not compact as tightly, as foam trays are mostly “blown Air.”  The cost differential given the volume of use would be substantial.  The options with regard to sizes and configurations is much more limited with the fiberboard product and the performance for the larger sizes may be less than desired as they have a tendency to buckle in the middle under heavier loads.

The Office of Food and Nutrition Services has been very active in recycling for the past twenty years.  We have tested a variety of cardboard and polystyrene trays for durability and student acceptance.  The decision was made to purchase durable laminated styrene foam expanded tray.  As stated above, the fiberboard trays are not only more expensive, but they have less durability.

In the early 1990’s our efforts to transport these disposable foam trays to recycling plants in New Jersey proved unacceptable and expensive.  They found the trays were too contaminated with food to recycle and returned them to Virginia and our landfills.  After this is when we began processing our trash and polystyrene items into the “post disposal energy” at the Ogden-Martin facility in Lorton.