Food scraps separated to haul to the compost
The Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) owned by Vail Resorts composted 20,220 pounds (10.11 tons) of food scrap and compostable packaging during the 2020-21 winter season, which was the prime pandemic year, when travel to such destination resorts was reduced to a trickle.
Vail Resorts (VR) has set a goal to reach a zero net operating footprint by 2030 and zero waste to the landfill is part of that goal. Tom Bradley, Senior Sustainability Manager (Rocky Mountain Region) at Vail Resorts reported that the composting program at CBMR started as just back of house food scraps at the base area restaurants in 2019 but has expanded to include all food and beverage outlets, banquets, weddings, and ski school. The grounds crew has started composting their organic materials and green waste as well. Now, compost includes pre- and post-consumer food waste, green waste (yard clippings and leaves), shredded paper, and Eco-Products, which is hauled to 3XM Grinding and Compost’s facility. Vail Resorts works with Eco-Products for compostable food and beverage containers, and through this partnership, they’re eliminating all single-use, guest-facing conventional plastic products and replacing them with compostable or recycled-content products.
The CBMR waste diversion program is focused on more than just food waste and the resort continues to find additional material to divert from the landfill as it currently also recycles glass, plastic bottles, paper, used fryer oil, cardboard, scrap metal, rubber, E-waste, soft plastic and wooden pallets.
Sharing the gospel on compostable cup for drinks
Each of the VR resorts is following their own unique path to reach the Commitment to Zero goal. Through ongoing collaboration across the resorts and innovative solutions, they’re reaching to achieve a zero net operating footprint by 2030. To achieve zero waste to landfill, their highest priority is to reduce waste at the source so there is less to sort, transport, and process. They're working with partners and suppliers to reduce and divert everything. For items that can’t be eliminated, the goal is to close the loop through reuse, composting, or recycling.
VR reportedly achieved a subgoal of 50% waste diversion (50.6%) in March of 2020, and in FY 2021 focus during the pandemic was to continue to drive towards zero waste by reducing waste and maintaining as high a diversion rate as possible. Waste was sorted with new safety measures, diversion streams were added, behavioral campaigns were implemented, and partners and suppliers were engaged to maximize diversion and reduce waste at the source.
in FY 2021, VR reported that it achieved 47.1% diversion and reduced overall waste by nearly a million pounds (483 tons). The FY 2020 50% diversion results included the 16 resorts in the enterprise and in FY 2021, the achievements include all 37 resorts, where the 37 resorts produced less waste than 16 resorts in FY 2020.
At CBMR all of the food and beverage employees are trained to sort waste in sorting stations that are set up in each of the outlets. When guests are finished eating in the dining facilities, they are asked to empty containers and leave packaging and food scraps at their table. Team members then sort them into compost, recyclables and waste. There is also a team that moves product up the mountain and brings waste down to containers specific to their waste streams.
CBMR has teamed up with 3XM Grinding and Compost of Olathe, Colo. to haul all of CBMR’s compost – including pre-and post-consumer food waste, green waste, eco products and shredded paper – to their facility to mix and sell locally. Sorting stations at CBMR restaurants successfully divert waste from landfill and they’ve also partnered with Terracycle to help divert hard to recycle items like disposable gloves in the food and beverage outlets.
Additionally, the CBMR banquet and wedding team sort compost during and after all weddings and events. This is mainly food waste but has also included flower arraignments and decorations from weddings. At Camp CB the ski school supervisors sort food scraps from lunch into bins that are taken to the larger compost bin and emptied then returned.
Sorting station in the Clock Tower Base68 cafeteria at Okemo Resort
Bradley stated, “We remain confident in achieving zero waste to landfill by 2030 and overall waste reduction will be the key metric going forward. Our journey will require constant innovation and engagement both internally and with communities and partners. Solutions will become more complex as we implement the most difficult changes such as overhauling whole waste systems at a resort. For this reason, our results may not always be linear but we are committed to the ultimate goal.”
The initial efforts at some of the VR resorts look promising for reducing waste associated with the resorts and there is hope that the goals for zero waste will be attained.