At one of Denali’s facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, a machine mixes green waste with unpackaged food waste to begin the composting process (Photo courtesy of Denali)
Denali Water Solutions, a Russellville organics recycling company, announced Monday that it will be rolling out new unpackaging technology at thousands of Walmart and Sam’s Club stores to help retailers reduce food waste.
Denali said in a news release that the technology separates food from packaging materials like plastic and cardboard, creating a “cleaner organics stream” that can be turned into animal feed or compost. Avoiding the manual process of separating food from packaging makes it easier to recycle and reuse food waste and saves retailers time.
Denali said Walmart is one of the first retailers to roll out the new technology at scale. The program is launching in more than 1,400 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in more than 16 markets across the U.S., with plans to continue rolling out nationwide through 2025.
Initial tests show the technology has increased the amount of recyclable organic content collected at participating Walmart and Sam’s Club stores by more than 60 percent and reduced compactor waste by an estimated 12 percent.
Denali renewed its food waste recycling contract with Walmart last year, a deal CEO Todd Mathes said put the Bentonville-based retailer one step closer to achieving its goal of achieving zero waste for its U.S. operations by 2025.
Denali, along with Walmart and Sam’s Club, provides unpacking services to thousands of grocery stores, food manufacturers, distributors and municipalities across the country. After piloting the program in several markets over the years, Denali launched its national rollout in Phoenix last year. The company said its technology enabled the city to divert 2,000 tons of food waste generated from Super Bowl-related events and activities.
Denali says its network of depackaging facilities can separate up to 97% of trash from organic food waste, including expired food, recalled items, food scraps, and spoiled deli, bakery and produce. That amounts to recycling 1.5 million pounds of food waste per day. Denali recycles more than 1 billion pounds of food waste annually.
