A machine mixes green waste and depackaged food waste to start the composting process at one of Denali’s facilities in Phoenix, Arizona (Photo provided by Denali)
Organic recycling company Denali Water Solutions LLC of Russellville on Monday announced that it’s rolling out new depackaging technology at thousands of Walmart and Sam’s Club stores to help the retailers reduce food waste.
The technology separates food from packaging materials like plastic and cardboard, producing a “cleaner stream” of organic material that can be turned into animal feed or compost, Denali said in a news release. By avoiding the process of manually separating food from its packaging, it makes it easier to recycle and reuse food waste while freeing up time for retailers.
Denali said Walmart is one of the first retailers to use the new technology at scale. The program has launched in more than 1,400 Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in more than 16 markets across the U.S., with plans to continue the rollout nationwide into 2025.
Based on early testing, the technology has increased the volume of potentially reusable organic content recovered from participating Walmart and Sam’s Club locations by more than 60% and reduced their compactor trash by an estimated 12%.
Denali renewed its food-waste recycling agreement with Walmart last year. CEO Todd Mathes said the deal brings the Bentonville-based retailer closer to reaching its goal of zero waste in its U.S. operations by 2025.
Along with Walmart and Sam’s Club, Denali provides depackaging services to thousands of grocers, food manufacturers, distributors and municipalities nationwide. After piloting the program in multiple markets over several years, Denali began its nationwide rollout last year in Phoenix. The company said the technology helped the city divert 2,000 tons of food waste generated from Super Bowl-related events and activities.
Denali said its network of depackaging facilities can separate up to 97% of all trash from organic food waste, including expired food products, recalled items, food scraps and spoiled deli, bakery and produce. That adds up to 1.5 million pounds of recycled food waste each day. Annually, Denali recycles over 1 billion pounds of food waste.
