

New York City is doing what it can to be more eco-friendly. We're not just talking recycling plastic bottles or taxing plastic bags; we're also talking about behind-the-scenes efforts that tackle waste before it hits the streets. Starting July 19, 2016, many hotels, wholesalers, and other large vendors in New York City will be required to separate their organic waste and recycle it. Businesses can dispose of the waste themselves, or they can coordinate a pick-up from a third party.

Another option is for the businesses to process the waste on-site, which means recycling it on their own. That's where the ORCA comes in—ORCAs are big, steel machines that basically eat and digest organic waste. Using continuous motion and waste-eating biochips, all of the food remnants and organic matter dumped into an ORCA are processed down to slightly murky water that's then pushed into the sewer system.

While they require electricity and oxygen to work (as the process is aerobic), ORCAs can turn thousands of pounds of waste into recycled water in hours. Because of their convenience and how little work they require from businesses, ORCAs are finding their way into hotels and supermarkets. Ars took a trip to the Carlyle Hotel in New York City to see an ORCA in action—check it out in the video above.

ORCAs aren't the only answer, of course. Machines like the Harvester also process organic waste, but produce fertilizer instead. City programs often transport waste from businesses to be processed offsite, typically in landfills. Much of this waste is processed anaerobically, or without oxygen, which produces harmful methane gas as a bi-product. Some landfills are equipped to turn methane gas into energy, but that requires time and a specific vacuum system in place to do so.