LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – On the outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley, located on the other side of the Apex Landfill are probably thrown-out leftovers.
However, the pounds of food scraps don’t go waste as it’s processed and turned into pig feed right on-site.
The business is run by the Combs family which owns Las Vegas Livestock, formerly known as RC Farms.
Farm Manager Sarah Stallard said reducing food waste is all about conserving the resources we already have.
“So we probably run our feed truck around four to five times a day and feed all of our pens and they have access to that feed 24/7,” explained Stallard. “In the desert, it’s not sustainable for us to grow crops to feed hogs so we’re able to take what would be a wasted product, rotting in landfill and basically reenter it in the food system.”
The system is equipped to handle all kinds of food scraps. The machine separates food from packagings such as yogurt cups, mayonnaise packets, and cases of crackers.
The large batch of cookers pasteurizes the leftover food.
Farm Supervisor Isai Martinez said the entire operation takes about 45 minutes from the time the food scraps are dumped to when it’s finished cooking.
“The food in there gets cooked to basically kill any bacteria that the food might come with,” said Martinez. ” Once it’s cooked and heated up, it comes out into that pipe and into our food trucks and heads down there to feed the pigs.”
The farm does have a permit to feed food scraps to the animals from the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
“I’ll do this about one time per day or sometimes I’ll do it every other day, but it’s a process like I said I’ll be up here for 3 to 5 hours in a single day cooking,” Martinez added.
Not only do they collect food scraps from local restaurants and casinos like the Venetian and Palazzo, but they’re encouraging the community to donate their food scraps as well.
“So on average we’re processing 30 tons daily of food scraps so it’s a very high amount,” said Stallard. “We’re unique in why my grandfather started it here in Vegas because of the casinos and the way Vegas is set up, there’s a lot of food in one central area.
Those interested can drop off their food scraps in the food bin on Jones and Lone Mountain. It is free to the public. For more information, click here.
