I was reading an article the other day about a socially responsible, green business called EcoScraps that was founded in Utah. The company’s founders, then students at BYU, noticed the incredible amount of food scraps that was ending up in the garbage cans of a favorite restaurant and decided composting the food waste into potting soil and selling it make a great business.Â
They figured since the cost of the raw materials was nothing, there was a good profit to be made with this novel idea.
Today, EcoScraps collects numerous tons of food waste each day from over 70 restaurants, grocery stores, produce wholesalers, and Costco stores around Utah. They currently do not include takeaway leftovers in dumpsters, but no doubt, this would be an excellent source of raw material as well.
The waste is then composted into potting soil which is sold for about $8.50 per bag in nurseries and garden stores around the Western USA.
Company sales are estimated to reach over $1.5 million in 2011!
Along with the development of a killer business model that encourages everyone involved to do the right thing, BYU classmates Craig Martineau, Brandon Sargent, and Dan Blake discovered something very interesting along the way.
They discovered that the scraps from Chinese restaurants weren’t very good compared with other restaurants.
In fact, Blake says that “The compost we made from Chinese restaurant dumpsters was terrible. It killed plants within 12 hours.”
Notice how Mr. Blake did not distinguish between high-end Chinese restaurants and cheap, back alley ones where you wonder why there aren’t any stray cats hanging around. He lumped them all into the same category as “terrible”.
What could possibly be in the Chinese restaurant scraps that are so bad that it kills plants when composted? It’s anyone’s guess on that one. An overreliance on GM ingredients perhaps? Maybe the chemical residue from disinfecting those nasty, factory-farmed chickens?
I for one know that I get killer headaches from all the MSG when I eat at these types of establishments.
Be warned that Chinese restaurants that claim to be MSG-free are not. A “No MSG” sign in the window of a Chinese restaurant only means that they don’t add any additional MSG to the fare. There is plenty of MSG already in there with all the prepackaged food and sauces that are used.
So, the next time you are considering Chinese takeout, remember that the “food” you are planning to buy would kill your flower or vegetable garden if you composted it! This should be motivation enough to go home and prepare the meal yourself!
Source:Â Inc., May 2011
I wonder if it’s all the salt (soy sauce) in it that kills everything. Most plants are decidedly NOT adapted to living in salty conditions.
Great post, Sarah!
Ugh. Tha’s not too much of a surprise, but it makes total sense. If it’s killing plants, imagine what it’s doing to you…
Pretty disgusting. I’ve read many warnings on the dangers of manure or compost that you buy and don’t know where it originally came from such as the ” mystery toxic sludge” that was being sold around the northern California area.
Haha Pavil, that’s a good one! I don’t doubt that Chinese food with all the MSG and HFCS in the sauces, etc would kill plants. Better make a Real Chinese Food recipe e-book!
I frequently go to the chinese store in my town to get some quail eggs and fresh veggies at good prices, and I noticed that in almost all packaged food there is MSG..crackers, dried fish, dumplings…everything. They even sell bottles of MSG powder there.
But, I still love the store for their fresh produce!
Hi Marina, yes it is a mine field in the Asian supermarkets. Good stuff but lots of really bad stuff too. You have to be a very savvy shopper to go there and feel comfortable.
I thought that reason one never found stray alley cats hanging around Chinese restaurants was because … well, never mind.
Ciao,
Pavil
I thought that too!! Years ago I stopped at a Chinese restaurant in Pagosa Springs, CO. I left my dog out in the truck with the window down. Looking out the window of the restauant I saw the kitchen help out there discussing my dog who was still in the truck. She was a Newfoundland and obviously from their gestures and laughing they were not discussing her charm, which she had. Not saying all are like that, but it happened there back in the early 1980’s.
Sorry Sarah, I know this is not what your post was about. And yes the post is quite disturbing and should be.
Carolyn
Ah, you made me laugh! Nice way to start the morning.
Carolyn, I was trying to respond to Pavil’s post. Nothing funny about your experience. I used to eat at restaurant that was found to serve dog meat. This also was in the 80’s.
Stanley, It was rather comical to watch in a strange sort of way. Needless to say I didn’t eat there anymore in the 11 years I was there.
The Korean people consider dog meat a staple.
I hear Sesame Cat is quite good actually. 🙂
Sarah, after interrogating the staff at many Chinese restaurants, I am convinced that they use the cheapest oil for all frying. The only answer I could get from any of them was “vegetable oil” .
Most Chinese restaurant food is stir fried or deep fried. The cheapest oil is likely to be cottonseed oil., the oil that hydrogenated shortening is made from, or soy, or canola. All of which are very bad choices, according to the Weston A Price Foundation, who I trust. These oils are very cheap, and may be reused, which would make them even worse.
It is no surprise that food saturated with that stuff would be rejected by alley cats. Why should we humans eat it ?
What you have shared about the compost is very disturbing. Thanks for exposing the truth, once again.
The traditional healthy Chinese cooking oil is natural pork lard, but I doubt you can find a single Chinese restaurant in the US that uses it.
There is an epidemic of “three-highs” in mainland Chinese population centers these days: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. The Chinese have been using cheap vegetable oils for decades now. This tsunami of health crisis is coming to a head.
This posting highlights just how gullible we Americans are when it comes to nutrition. I am beginning think that cattle are smarter. I think that somewhere along the way we have lost our dignity.
Ciao,
Pavil
Pavil, when it comes to food, Cattle are smarter, if given a choice. I saw that on a farm once.
I agree, dignity is inconsistent with eating poison just because it is cheaper and because the government advocates it. Why can’t more people think for themselves?
@ Stanley: have you seen the video called 12 Aprils? It’s wonderful and shows that cattle instinctively know what’s best for them. Here’s a link:
http://www.ecocentricblog.org/2011/03/07/old-time-farm-solutions-12-aprils-dairy-grazing-program/
17 minutes well spent!
-D.
BTW, I follow your blog and have your book. You have some of the best information around, no doubt about it. I refer people to your blog and articles every chance I get.
It’s all about cheap food, don’t ya know.
Darn…. I have some friends that have had TERRIBLE luck using commercially purchased food compost. Maybe they are having the same problem.
Could it be due to the prevalence of frying in Chinese-American cooking? Oils are very hard to compost.