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In 2021, the Kalispel Tribe was awarded a grant from the EPA to implement a Food-to-Pigs, Pigs-to-Food project to divert food waste and promote a closed loop waste cycle. Because there isn’t currently composting infrastructure on the Reservation, the Tribe developed a creative program to use food waste to feed local livestock.
Over the course of three years, sustainability consultancy, Resource Synergy, created a workgroup and identified the flow of waste to ensure food waste was captured. The group partnered with the Kalispel Casino and Market to capture materials generated in the kitchen and market shelves, collected in green 5-gallon buckets, then transported by the Solid Waste Coordinator, Warren Piengkham, up to Ramstead Ranch in Ione, WA. The food waste was then fed to a designated group of pigs, along with supplemental feed. Once the pigs matured, they were processed and sold as premium meat to Northern Quest Casino to be served in their fine dining venues. These pigs were also served at Northern Quest’s Full Hog Fourth of July BBQ.
Overall, this program diverted approximately 5,567 pounds of food waste and raised 48 200-lbs pigs!
Contact Warren Piengkham, Solid Waste Coordinator and Delaney Carr delaney@resource-synergy.com for more information.
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