Eco Factor: Food waste being converted into methane to produce electricity.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that food waste accounts for about 20% of all landfill waste and each year more than 30 million tons of food waste makes it to landfills. The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which provides water and wastewater treatment in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, is turning this waste into renewable energy.
The utility collects food scraps from over 2300 restaurants and grocery stores and converts it into renewable energy to power its wastewater treatment facility. The process starts by dumping food waste into 20,000-gallon underground tanks that turn scrap into a mud-like substance, which in the presence of bacteria releases methane.
The gas is then sent via overhead pipes to the plant’s power room to generate adequate power to run the plants wastewater treatment unit. The plant currently processes about 200 tons of food waste weekly, with the goal of converting about 200 tons of waste each day.
Via: USA Today
