Empire Zero Food Waste Collection Business Gains Popularity in Berkshires

The Berkshire Eagle

Phil Holloway is turning food trash into cash.

In just two years, the owner of Empire Zero has seen his New York-based food waste collection business become very popular with colleges, restaurants, hospitals and other commercial entities that generate plenty of unused food in the Albany, N.Y., area and Western Massachusetts, especially in the Berkshires.

Holloway cited Berkshire Medical Center, Fairview Hospital and Baba Louie's restaurants in Pittsfield and Great Barrington among his clients.

"Great Barrington is a [hotbed] of green consciousness," he said. "The demand is great, as it's all about landfill diversion."

Beside protecting the environment, Holloway expects to expand his business eastward, in part, due to the new Massachusetts regulations mandating businesses and institutions who produce at least one ton of food waste a week to recycle the organic material, removing it from the general solid waste stream.

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