[ad_1]
LAS VEGAS (AP) – On a farm outside Las Vegas, a herd of pigs is enjoying lobster, sausages and beef. In town, residents of a community center sit down for a dinner of sliders and truffle cheese macaroni.
Both meals have something in common: they both came from Sin City 's lavish casino cuisines, where the axiom of excess is increasingly being reconsidered and waste reduction is taking place. is installed.
The environmental and financial impacts of food scraps are more important than ever for Las Vegas' world-renowned casinos, which in recent years have developed and developed innovative practices to reduce the quantities sent to the landfill site. thousands of tons a year.
Leftover food is composted or brought to a farm to feed thousands of pigs. Expired snacks from the minibar are donated to community organizations. Banquet meals that have never been served go to a food bank. The oyster shells are even shipped thousands of kilometers to Chesapeake Bay.
Overall efforts vary slightly from one operator to another, and some have recently been recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Customers of glitzy mega-resorts will never witness these less glamorous efforts, but they illustrate how companies will improve their bottom line and reduce a global problem.
"Most people, when thinking about recycling, think about metal, plastic, standard paper – and the reality is that for an organization like MGM, food, food waste, food waste an important part of our waste footprint, "said Yalmaz Siddiqui, vice president of sustainable development at MGM Resorts International. "Our main approach is to think about the type of food that comes out of our operations and to direct that type of food to the best possible destination."
In 2016, MGM began giving Three Square, the only food bank in southern Nevada, full, but never served, food from conventions and other major events. The company has donated more than 700,000 pounds (317,500 kg) of cooked food, cooking ingredients, snacks in the minibar and additional food stored in warehouses.
Food bank employees coordinate with MGM properties along the Strip and arrive with an empty truck. They then take the temperature of each potential gift of hot food, and if it exceeds 57 degrees Celsius, it is packed in disposable aluminum pots, placed in a basket and taken to the food bank.
A recent afternoon, food bank employees bought more than 250 beef sliders, truffled cheese macaroons and sautéed at Aria casino-casino. Trays of chicken sliders do not respond to the required temperature.
The food is then cooled in quick-cooling cells, transferred to a warehouse-sized freezer and introduced into a control system used by charities, including a senior citizen center, Catholic Charities and the University of Ottawa. 39 Salvation Army.
"It's important to know that they will help us fight hunger," said Maurice Johnson, director of operations at Three Square, adding that 700,000 pounds had been used for 600,000 meals. "We update our inventory every day, we process orders every day."
The federal government has estimated that over one-third of all food available in the United States is wasted.
An EPA initiative has partnered with more than 1,000 organizations – including grocers, restaurants and hotels – to tackle the problem. The agency estimated that participants in 2017 would have prevented about 648,000 tons (587,856 tons) of food products from entering landfills or incinerators, thus avoiding spill costs of more than 30 million dollars.
The Trump administration said in April that the month of November had been "a winner for the reduction of food waste"
In March, EPA paid tribute to MGM's Bellagio casino-complex for its food recovery efforts. Last year, the property sent 2,210 tonnes (2,005 tonnes) of food waste to the hog barn outside Las Vegas, an increase of 16% from 2017 and 455% compared to 2015. She has also diverted 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms) of oyster shells to Chesapeake Bay, where they help restore oyster habitat.
The Venetian and Palazzo casinos, which are run by Las Vegas Sands, also give charity meals and send food leftovers to the Las Vegas cattle hog farm located 40 km north of Las Vegas. the Strip.
The 5,000 pigs on the farm are fed exclusively on boiled food leftovers. Trucks transport each day from the strip to the farm of 25 to 35 tons (23 to 32 metric tons) of food. This process is part of the waste management package purchased by the companies.
"They probably ate more lobster than me," said Sarah Stallard, farm manager.
The practice of feeding pigs with food scraps is approved by the federal government, but it is not widespread on American farms, which favors a strict regime of corn, wheat and soybean meal. Las Vegas Livestock has the advantage of being close to a major source of waste and setting up a system allowing it to accept even more.
Caesars Entertainment, which operates several properties on the Strip, sends its food waste to composting. He also gives unserved meals.
And while meal donations and diversion of food waste help, operators are also looking to produce less waste to begin with. In employee dining halls, thousands of employees are encouraged to pay attention to what they put on their plates.
At Las Vegas Sands, employees work with conventions, many of which are repeat customers, in "engineering menus" using data from previous years, which allows them to reduce waste without the risk of scarcity. said Pranav Jampani, executive director of sustainable development of the company. .
"We never want to run out of food," said Jampani. "It would be a huge problem."
The Sands has also organized events to allow employees to learn practices they can apply at home, including cooking clbades.
Eric Dominguez, Vice President of Facilities, Engineering and Sustainability at Caesars, said that the size of the plates had been adjusted in the guest buffets and that individually prepared dishes had been added.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
Source link
