Tons of food waste are generated by the Phoenix Convention Center from catering services, grab-and-go menu items and PHX Kitchens Downtown Food Hall.

But the waste doesn’t go to waste.

Aventura, a subsidiary of Aramark, and the convention center work with the Phoenix Public Works Department to find solutions to diverting​ food waste.

And for about six years, food waste has been made into compost, according to a city release. 

“We’ve developed a really great partnership,” Lorizelda Stoeller, deputy public works director, said. “It’s awesome the Convention Center and Aventura are willing to try new things.”  

Through June 2023, the program has diverted 58.67 tons of food waste, according to Stoeller. 

Waste is collected three times a week at the kitchen dock and then is is put into a de-packager machine that separates non-organic material. From there, the waste is taken to the Phoenix-​owned facility at 27th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road for composting, the release stated. 

Denali, a national company, is contracted to run the facility, Stoeller said. They take the compost, bag it up and sell it at big box stores and to local farms. The city's parks have also found, and continue to find, use for the compost.  ​

“It all goes back into the community somehow,” Stoeller said.  

The convention center’s composting program was put on pause during the pandemic in 2020 an​d 2021, Stoeller said, but as it geared up to play host to fan activities for Super Bowl LVII in February 2023 the program re-emerged.  

The goal of Super Bowl LVII was to be a zero-waste event, Stoeller said. The Phoenix Convention Center during two weeks around the game diverted 11 tons of food waste from landfills to the composting operation.

“Now we are getting ready for the NCAA Men’s Final Four next year, and there’s a big emphasis on making that a zero-waste event like we did for Super Bowl LVII,” Stoeller said.