KBB

KBB

News: 

InSinkErator Celebrates 80th Anniversary

September 7, 2018

InSinkErator, a business unit of St. Louis-based Emerson, grew out of a Wisconsin architect’s wish to help make meal clean-up easier. Today, InSinkErator celebrates 80 years of transforming the kitchen and the way people handle food waste.

InSinkErator, provider of food waste disposers, still calls Racine, Wisconsin, home. The company employs more than 1,200 people at its facilities on 21st Street and has additional locations in Kenosha and Sturtevant.

“Our founder, John Hammes, invented a product that revolutionized how we work in the kitchen and dispose of food waste,” said Chad Severson, president of InSinkErator. “Today, our products give relief to overflowing landfills and generate renewable energy and fertilizer while providing consumers with a convenient, easy way to manage the inevitable food waste.”

It is estimated that since InSinkErator’s founding 80 years ago, its disposers have kept 80 million tons of food waste out of landfills. The company is on a mission to continue growing that number to address a pressing global challenge – more than 19 million tons of food waste are sent to U.S. landfills every year, where it becomes a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. A food waste disposer provides an environmentally responsible alternative by sending food waste to wastewater treatment plants instead. At advanced plants like those in many major cities, food waste can be recycled into renewable energy and fertilizer.

“We’re excited about making a positive impact on the environment,” Severson said. “Now, more than ever, managing food waste is important. At InSinkErator, we’re committed to continue finding innovative ways to make our home – the kitchen, Southeast Wisconsin and the world – a better place.”

To formally mark the company’s 80th anniversary, InSinkErator is embarking on a yearlong celebration that kicked off with a Fourth of July parade float, to be followed by an employee appreciation celebration and christening of a new headquarters Fall 2018.