Traditionally, in an average American commercial kitchen, more than 4,000 pounds of food waste are sent to landfills each week. The powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is a major culprit in global warming, is then emitted into the atmosphere by the waste. Beginning October 1, 2014, a Massachusetts-wide ban will take place, enforcing any entity disposing one ton or more of organic waste per week to deliver that waste to either a composting facility, an animal feed operation, or an anaerobic digestion plant for conversion to clean energy. Anaerobic digestion is a process widely used to convert landfill and greenhouse gases into renewable energy.
The Whole Foods Market in Andover has partnered with the company InSinkErator to put into practice the new Grind2Energy organics system, which converts food waste into sustainable energy. This will allow Whole Foods to create both valuable and renewable fertilizer, as well as help in their compliance with the upcoming ban.
As an alternative to landfills, Grind2Energy converts food waste through its organics recycling system, by grinding the waste into a “liquid slurry,” which is stored in a tank on site. Requiring no staff supervision, this “slurry,” or waste mixture, is vacuumed and transported to a local anaerobic digestion facility. At the facility, the potentially harmful methane gas is trapped and transformed into sustainable energy, which can take the form of natural gas, electricity, and much more. What is left of the slurry, after the gas has been removed, is a natural fertilizer that can be safely used by local farms.
The Whole Foods in Andover will use the Grind2Energy to store food waste in a 3,000-gallon storage tank. Casella Organics, the operator of the Rutland-based AGreen Energy Jordan Farm and the Hadley-based Longview Farm, will collect and digest the waste. The harmful methane will then be converted into electricity and natural gas, which will be used to heat the farm and what’s left behind will be used as a nontoxic and natural fertilizer.
This new innovation places the Andover Whole Foods Market at the forefront of sustainability in Massachusetts, as they lead the precedent for renewable practices for the food industry.
For more information, visit grind2energy.com