Flying SparCs

It’s no secret that our industry struggles to control the vast amount of waste it generates.  In the United States, 30-40% of the national food supply goes to waste on an annual basis. This number is clearly unacceptable from a social perspective, but it also creates an enormous and unnecessary strain on our environment. 

In response to this global crisis, Baldor has made a commitment to eliminate all organic waste destined for a landfill by 2017.  Our pledge is anchored by a program called SparCs which offers trim, tops and peelings from our Fresh Cuts facility for sale.  Through this program, we’re challenging our customers to discover creative applications for these items that so frequently end up in the trash. 

Baldor’s SparCs program takes a multi-faceted approach to organic food waste, prioritizing human consumption whenever possible.  This emphasis has inspired partnerships with companies like Washington D.C.’s MISFIT Juicery, who recover unsellable, blemished, “ugly produce” for use in cold-pressed juices. Baldor now sends food trim to MISFIT to be made into juices. In addition, Haven’s Kitchen, a Manhattan based café and cooking school dedicated to forming community through the pleasure of cooking and eating, recently developed a food line made up of Baldor’s SparCs such as soups, sauces and cookies.  

For many produce items, such as cantaloupe rinds and mango pits, which are unfit for human consumption, we worked with several partners who repurpose them into animal feed, including Brick Farms located in Hopewell, New Jersey.

Any remaining organic material, not used for human or animal consumption, is processed with in an on-site waste-to-water system.

In 2017, Baldor will continue developing new ways to keep organic matter out of its waste stream, and is already working on plans to create a dried vegetable blend or “flour” that provides a nutrient-dense boost to soups, smoothies, baked goods and more. 

The Baldor’s SparCs Program has partnered with:

Haven’s Kitchen, who serve fine and approachable food in a space dedicated to forming communities through the pleasure of cooking and eating.

MISFIT Juicery, who take excess produce and cold press it into a delicious line of juices.

Brick Farm Market, who are a locally sustainable operation that takes food from farm to market to table and back to the farm in the form of compost or animal feed.