Submitted by StopWaste
At a June ceremony, six Alameda County entities were honored with 2024 Environmental Leadership Awards from public agency StopWaste. Winners included Sparkl Reusables and oWOW in Oakland, and Mohr Elementary School in Pleasanton. The other three were from the East Bay Area.
Vesta Foodservice: Excellence in Food Recovery & Donation
Vesta Foodservice in Hayward delivers food to restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other foodservice providers throughout California and beyond. Their Chefs to End Hunger (CTEH) program makes it easy for customers to donate surplus prepared foods and perishables like dairy, produce and meats that are close to expiration dates. Vesta drivers pick up food from customers during their regularly scheduled deliveries and bring them to the warehouse in Hayward. From there, Vesta’s food recovery partners distribute food to nearby vulnerable communities. By utilizing the trips Vesta drivers already make, carbon emissions from transport are minimized. Vesta offers the program to customers at no additional cost, including donation kits consisting of a box, three sheet pans and labeling. Last year, the amount of surplus food they helped redistribute to communities in Alameda County exceeded 760,000 lbs.
Spectrum Community Services and Sparkl Reusables: Excellence in Reusable Foodware Partnership
Nonprofit Spectrum Community Services in Hayward provides low-income and older Alameda County residents with healthy meals for pickup at locations in Alameda, Oakland, San Leandro, Castro Valley, Hayward and Union City. With over 400 meals served each day, they were troubled by the amount of waste from disposable food containers and searched for a solution. They found it in Oakland-based Sparkl Reusables, a reusable foodware service provider. At eight of their 10 distribution sites, Spectrum clients now pick up their meals in reusable containers, to be carried away in reusable bags. On their next visit to a meal site, seniors drop off the empty, rinsed containers in designated collection bins. Sparkl staff pick up the used foodware for washing and on the same trip drop off freshly-sanitized containers for the next day’s meal distribution. The innovative partnership prevents some 10,000 pieces of disposable foodware from being wasted each month.
Drake’s Brewing Company: Excellence in Waste Prevention and Reuse
At Drake’s brewery in San Leandro, beer kegs used to be stacked on wooden pallets that break often and were secured with disposable plastic pallet wrap as they were moved between facilities for cleaning and refilling, or for shipment to off-site taprooms. In 2019, Drake’s switched to reusable plastic pallets and replaced the plastic wrap with reusable wraps and pallet-sized rubber bands. In the first year alone, they eliminated 16,000 lbs of pallet wood waste and 290,000 square feet of plastic wrap—an amount that would be enough to cover five football fields! In addition to cost savings, the reusable solutions save time because they are easier to apply and have improved worker safety. Drake’s Brewing Company has made many other efforts to reduce their environmental footprint, from minimizing brewery water use to creating customized signage that helps taproom guests properly sort their trash.
To learn more about the awards visit www.stopwaste.org/2024awards.
