Brighton Resort Fights Food Waste With New Food Waste Diversion Pilot

By Erika Kazi

Many people are familiar with recycling efforts; however, composting has become a newer industry that is equally important to waste diversion efforts.  Composting is a process that diverts food waste from landfills.  There are many different types of compost, you can learn about them here. 

At Brighton, we are doing a Food Waste Pilot in the kitchens of the Alpine Rose, Molly Green’s, the Milly Chalet, and The Blind Miner.  All of our food waste – from left over beer in kegs to carrot tops – will be sent to Wasatch Resource Recovery where it will be converted into usable methane gas. That means our food is being converted into fuel. Check out this video to learn more.

Not only are we reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released from our local landfills through this diversion effort, but we are also reducing the need of our trash haulers by reducing the garbage production at our resort. 

What does this mean for your skiing experience?   

 Less inversion = more blue-bird days.   

Reduced footprint from the resort = more winters. 

After one month of collecting data and figuring out how much of an impact this composting effort will make in our goal of being Net Zero by 2030, Brighton will look into the logistics of expanding such a program.  Future efforts could include post-consumer composting, creating a food waste diversion program for all of Big Cottonwood Canyon, and further outreach with the community about these types of sustainable measures.

P.S. Special thanks to our partners at Momentum Recycling for providing the hauling and logistical services to make this effort happen!