In addition, he’s able to use the liquids left over from the process as fertilizer on his fields. Vanguard pays him rental fees for having the anaerobic digester on his farm. He says times are tough for dairy farmers, so this gives him a new stream of revenue. “We only use about 10 percent of what we make, and the rest is fed onto the grid,” Melnik explains. “This turns a big generator, which is creating one megawatt of electricity” continuously, Melnik says - enough to power more than just his farm. Unlike other engines that run on diesel or gasoline, this engine runs on methane. Then we suck it into a big motor,” Melnik explains. WATCH: How Farmers Are Turning Waste Into Energy As the methane is released, it rises to the top of a large red tank with a black bubble-shaped dome. The mixture cooks at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
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In the digester, he combines all of this waste with manure from his cows. In addition to all the food waste from Whole Foods, he gets whey from a Cabot Creamery in the area, as well as waste from a local brewery and a juice plant. “We presently take in about a 100 tons, which is about three tractor-trailer loads, every day,” Melnik says. Owner Peter Melnik, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, showed us how his anaerobic digester, which is installed next to his dairy barn, works. “We really do like the system,” she says. In addition to food donations, Whole Foods composts this waste-to-energy system is yet another way to meet its goal. She says the chain is committed to diverting as much waste as possible and aims for zero waste. “There’s no question it’s better than putting it in the trash,” Franczyk says. “It really becomes kind of a liquefied food waste,” Franczyk says.įrom here, the waste is loaded into a truck and sent to an anaerobic digester.
![pbs newshour newstream pbs newshour newstream](https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2018/07/Main10-1024x679.jpg)
The grinder turns all these bits into a slurry. Just as when you cook in your own kitchen, there are lots of bits that remain, such as onion or carrot peel, rinds, stalks or meat scraps. Much of it is generated from prepping prepared foods. While Whole Foods donates a lot of surplus food to food banks, there’s a lot waste left over. He has an anaerobic digester on his farm that converts food waste into renewable energy. Peter Melnik, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, owns Bar-Way Farm, Inc.
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The machine will grind up all kinds of food waste - “everything from bones, we put whole fish in here, to vegetables to dry items like rice or grains,” Franczyk says as the grinder is loaded. It’s an industrial-strength grinder that gobbles up all the scraps of food the store can’t sell, explains Karen Franczyk, who is the sustainability program manager for Whole Foods’ North Atlantic region. We visited the chain’s store in Shrewsbury, Mass., which has i nstalled a Grind2Energy system. The process begins by gathering wasted food from around the state, including from many Whole Foods locations. They feed waste into anaerobic digesters, built and operated by Vanguard Renewables, which capture the methane emissions and make renewable energy. So, here’s one solution to the problem: Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste to create electricity. In fact, a recent report from the United Nations from a panel of climate experts estimates that up to 10 percent of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food waste. Department of Agriculture.Īnd, when all this food rots in a landfill, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. If you piled up all the food that’s not eaten over the course of a year in the U.S., it would be enough to fill a skyscraper in Chicago about 44 times, according to an estimate from the U.S. This story was produced as part of a collaboration with the PBS NewsHour BY ALLISON AUBREYĪs the season of big holiday meals kicks off, it’s as good a time as any to reflect on just how much food goes to waste.