T&S Brass buys food waste disposal firm

Feb. 1, 2013
T&S Brass and Bronze Works, a worldwide manufacturer and supplier of plumbing and foodservice equipment, has acquired Chicago-based food waste elimination company EnviroPure Systems Inc., a leading-edge developer of alternative environmentally-friendly technologies for organic food waste disposal.

TRAVELERS REST, S.C. — T&S Brass and Bronze Works, a worldwide manufacturer and supplier of plumbing and foodservice equipment, has acquired Chicago-based food waste elimination company EnviroPure Systems Inc., a leading-edge developer of alternative environmentally-friendly technologies for organic food waste disposal. The deal underscores T&S’s commitment to helping foodservice professionals find more sustainable and cost-effective solutions.

EnviroPure’s processing techniques for dealing with organic food waste can save customers more than 50% in traditional operating costs while minimizing negative environmental impact.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food remnants are, by weight, the single-largest waste stream component of the waste stream in the United States; it is estimated that the U.S. spends nearly a billion dollars a year disposing of uneaten food and food preparation scraps from households, commercial establishments such as restaurants, institutional sources such as school cafeterias, and industrial sources such as factory lunchrooms. Every day, North America alone generates 120 million pounds of food waste from non-residential kitchens, an environmental burden equivalent to putting an extra 4 million cars on the road.

EnviroPure’s two systems — one wet, one dry — provide complete, onsite food waste decomposition, eliminating the need for expensive waste pick-up service and offsite composting. The systems also eliminate odors and sludge build-up, two ongoing issues for industrial, commercial and institutional kitchen and food service operations. EnviroPure’s wet system uses water-based, submersed environment decomposition that turns waste into gray water, which can be safely disposed into municipal waste water systems. The dry system provides substrate-based decomposition with up to a 1,500:1 reduction in food waste volume and weight. EnviroPure systems treat every kind of food waste including vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, bones, shells and pits; decomposition is generally complete within 24 hours.

T&S has retained EnviroPure president Jim Slanina to serve as president in the new operation, which will be headquartered adjacent to the T&S manufacturing plant on the company’s 140,000-acre campus in Travelers Rest, S.C.

“Partnering with EnviroPure allows us to take our role as an environmental leader in the foodservice industry to the next level,” said T&S Brass President and CEO Claude Theisen. “Not only do their products offer direct benefits to our core customer base, their sustainability-focused technology is directly in line with our concerns about conservation and environmental accountability. Creative and responsible disposal of food and other organic waste is a critical concern in this industry, both from a cost and social responsibility perspective; we expect enthusiastic acceptance of this innovative and extremely effective solution.”

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