Akademie Klausenhof
From better hygiene to biogas generation, Akademie Klausenhof has turned food waste disposal to its advantage
Paying for itself: the WasteStar CC system at Akademie Klausenhof
'Akademie Klausenhof' is a Catholic adult education centre that was founded in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1959. It offers a broad range of training and development programs, including language courses, re-skilling courses, and initiatives designed to get people into employment. The site features two educational institutions where around 280 staff members work according to the motto of 'living and learning under the same roof'. Akademie Klausenhof is the hub of a holistic approach to education, offering a conference centre for events and a number of seminar rooms, as well as board and accommodation for some 600 people.
For the in-house kitchen, that means preparing anywhere between 250 and 400 meals a week in a space that has both ups and downs. The wash-up area is located right in the middle of the kitchen facilities. That layout has the benefit of allowing access from both dining rooms, but it also has disadvantages, notably the fact that any food waste has to be carried all the way through the kitchen. That's where the WasteStar CC food waste disposal system really comes up trumps. As well as taking up minimal space, it can be configured in multiple different ways, making it easy to tailor it to specific on-site requirements.
Akademie Klausenhof became aware of the advantages of the WasteStar CC very soon after the quick and easy installation of the system in its kitchen facilities. Kitchen staff no longer had to store each day's food waste in a special bin, and the new system also eliminated the need to carry the bin through the kitchen and clean it after every use. That freed up staff members to focus on other tasks, and the new approach also reduced the overall volume of waste, leading to lower disposal costs. "The volume of waste has fallen slightly because everything is shredded, so we're only paying to dispose of the exact quantity of waste we actually produce," says chef de cuisine Klaus Witt.
The WasteStar CC system is equally rewarding for both kitchen staff and the environment, with staff members benefiting from simpler, more ergonomic processes and better occupational health & safety, and the environment benefiting from the ease with which biomass can be turned into biogas to heat the Akademie Klausenhof buildings. There's no doubt that MEIKO's compact and powerful solution has already been a huge plus for Akademie Klausenhof in all sorts of different ways, including lower costs and greater staff satisfaction. And the introduction of a simple means of converting shredded food waste into biogas really is the icing on the cake!
