IMC resolves world leading Science Park’s food waste problems

Background

Daresbury Laboratory occupies a substantial plot on the Daresbury Science and Innovation Park, established in 2006 and one of two national Science and Innovation Campuses that bring together leading research organisations, universities and industry. It is home to the renowned Cockroft Institute and an Innovation Centre that provides all the facilities to enable new and established businesses with a technology focus to develop their products and services alongside the expertise of the Centre’s staff.

Operating since 1962, Daresbury Laboratory is one of Europe’s largest multi-disciplinary research organisations supporting scientists and engineers world-wide. With a staff of 550, the Laboratory supports the work of over 5,000 scientists and engineers, mainly from the university research community.

Its status has resulted in it hosting numerous high profile visits including, most recently in late 2010, by HRH Prince Andrew.

The Challenge

All the employees on the Park are able to use Daresbury Laboratory’s catering facilities and dine at the main restaurant in Daresbury Laboratory’s building whilst a number of smaller deli bars and coffee lounges serve quick snacks to employees in more of a hurry or with less of an appetite. Demand on catering services extends to supporting networking events, conferences and site visits by clients and prospective customers, some of which are held out of normal office hours. Each year, over 3,000 members of the public are able to visit the Laboratory to hear about the latest developments in science and technology and see the Laboratory’s world leading facilities.



New buildings currently in construction will raise the current workforce on the Park to over 800 which will place new pressures not only on the Catering Department, which is managed by contract catering specialists, Avenance, but also Estates Management, whose responsibility includes the maintenance of the private drainage system.

The increasing loading on the drains system suggested that the practice of clearing the drains, which was already a weekly event, would become significantly more frequent. With the agreement of Daresbury Laboratory, Avenance worked closely with its catering equipment supplier, Nisbets, to identify a system that would reduce or possibly even remove the loading on the drain system. Having read of IMC’s food waste composting system, Nisbets arranged for IMC to make presentations to all the parties involved in order to provide them with a greater understanding of the system. Nisbets Account Manager, Sev Uzar, organised the meeting and ensured the attendance of the Site Operations Manager, Carol Livesey; “This provided all of the various departments that would be affected with the opportunity to raise any questions and to establish what impact the system might have on their own working practices and procedures.”

The Solution

Despite all parties recognising the benefits of recycling the food waste into compost, for use on the site, capex pressures dictated that this solution could not be adopted at this time but should remain the Client’s ultimate goal. However, it was apparent that IMC’s “WastePro” Dewaterer would have a significant effect on reducing any drainage problems by removing a large proportion of the solid food particles that were being dispensed to drain via the Food Waste Disposer that had already been in use in the kitchen for a number of years.



In order to retain the pre-existing layout of the kitchen, a requirement that was very important to staff working there, Nisbets produced new stainless steel tabling that would accommodate both the Food Waste Disposer and Dewaterer yet still provide staff with the same amount of work surface area. As Julie Williams, Catering Manager for the past 5 years, explains; “Whilst our 150 seat restaurant may not be the biggest, all of the food we serve, including sandwiches and other such snacks, is prepared here on the premises. We make a special effort to source food locally and to promote the traditional fare of the region. We provide breakfast to early starters and lunch from Monday to Friday. In addition, we would expect to serve around 250 people each day in the largest of our coffee lounges, the Waterside Café. Altogether this makes for quite a considerable amount of waste, in particular from the preparation area, that we either dispose of to drain or bag and bin together with our other rubbish.”

How it works

IMC’s solution uses a Food Waste Disposer to first macerate the food waste before extracting the solid fraction from the macerated waste by means of an IMC “WastePro” Dewaterer. The resultant grey water is dispensed to drain whilst the dewatered waste is captured in small lidded waste bins and collected along with other source separated wastes for subsequent processing off site.

Julie has a team of 7 staff all of whom have been trained on how to operate the equipment and to get the best out of it. “We have noticed that, rather than leave the equipment running, with water continuing to flow through it, whilst we process the occasional slice of bread or potato skin, instead we recapture substantially more solid waste if we process a larger amount at one time. Adopting this approach has actually improved my staff’s efficiency whilst we can take satisfaction from knowing that we are using even less water and electricity in operating it and reducing still further any solid particles that may end up in the drain.”



From an initial reluctance to having to clean the equipment at the end of each day, staff familiarity has now reduced this to a very quick exercise. “Most of any waste residue can be simply swilled through with a bucket of warm, soapy water at the end of each service,” says Julie. “This is good practice anyway as it flushes the Food Waste Disposer clean at the same time. It’s then a quick job to remove and replace the 3 key components of the WastePro which require just a 2 minute cycle in our dishwasher to thoroughly clean them.”

The Results

Estates Manager, Paul Bruton, has also benefitted from the installation of the Dewaterer. “Whilst it was clear that the macerated food per se was not the cause of any blockages in our drain system, it could get caught on other deposit build-ups in the pipes. Since the introduction of the WastePro I have noticed the complete absence of food deposits in our cess pit whilst I am having to arrange the expensive operation of having the drains cleared much less frequently than I used to. In very little time at all, the Dewaterer has paid for itself just in straight financial terms without taking into account the costs associated with savings in staff time.”



As all of the food waste is processed through the Dewaterer, the bins are now devoid of any food thereby freeing up dry materials for recycling such as paper, tins, cardboard and plastic.

Despite there being no real benefit to her directly, Julie is confident that the Client will ultimately take advantage of IMC’s composting system. “Daresbury Laboratory’s high profile status means that it places a priority on adopting green solutions and reducing its carbon footprint. I think it’s only a matter of time before we fulfil our original intention and IMC is asked to install an In Vessel Composter on the premises.”

Government approved

IMC’s food waste management and recycling solutions have all been approved by the Government procurement agency, buyingsolutions, and are available to all Public Sector establishments at preferential terms.