Schools, campuses, food and beverage producers, and food banks all produce thousands of pounds of food waste each year, and typically have to pay to have the waste hauled to a central location such as a landfill. In landfills, organic matter breaks down and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas that, if captured, can be a valuable source of energy. Enter Impact Bioenergy: the company’s small anaerobic digester systems, or microdigesters, convert food waste and other organic matter like paper and yard clippings into fertilizer and energy in the form of electricity, heat, and even transportation fuels.
Warmer weather is a sign of lots of great summer things to come, including one of our favorites: outdoor festivals. Last year, we helped make a summer concert series in Connecticut a zero-waste success, and we’re at it again this year, this time in partnership with Grind2Energy®. Our first stop of the season was at last week’s Kentucky Derby Festival in downtown Louisville, where we demonstrated how giant turkey legs can fuel a car, heat a home and make compost.
As the field of environmental sustainability matures, so does its core concepts, goals and operating principals. For example, “reduce, reuse, recycle” has served as a guiding principles of sustainability work over the last several decades. While the three Rs remain an important theme, the conversation is beginning to shift. The very concept of “waste” is being called into question.
At FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, a new partnership with the Cleveland Browns and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has implemented a new system which will divert an estimated 35 tons of stadium food waste from landfills into biodigesters for conversion into energy. The system, called Grind2Energy, is far more than an industrial-strength garbage disposal — it’s an integrated system that includes leasing, installation, and service coverage of a closed system that grinds up food waste into a slurry and transports it to an anaerobic digestion facility where it is converted to energy.
When it comes to disposing of kitchen food waste, nothing beats good, old-fashioned composting. But if you haven’t made the leap yet, there may another way to prevent your food scraps from ending up in landfills. In fact, you may already be using it.