San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization

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Useful Waste

Samantha Dodero
When you go to a sporting event or conference and have a meal do you know where your leftovers are going? Many of us think it is straight into the garbage bin and then eventually to a dump site. Well low and behold a company has turned that idea on its head and is turning our waste into energy!

Insinkerator, an Emerson company, an organic recycling system company has tapped into how large facilities use their large amounts of waste from guests with their product grind2energy. Their grind2energy system uses a high density shredding grinder that then transports the waste to a sealed enclosed tank that contains a monitor that notifies the company when it is time for the waste to be picked up. Right now the company’s main focus is on larger waste generating facilities such as hotels, hospitals, sports facilities, colleges, restaurants and supermarkets. With this form of waste management system the company highlights that you will have fewer pests, reduced odor, reduced trash pick-ups and disposal fees.

With large companies trying to go green and more sustainable a lot of people are starting to take notice. One such organization that jumped on the product was the Cleveland Indians baseball team at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The process for the stadium staff is the dishwashers take the scraps to a garage behind the stadium that houses the system. Once there they then run the scraps through the heavy duty grinder and then that the liquid is deposited into the large storage bin where it is housed until the bin notifies Quasar, the waste to energy company, to pick up the waste.                            

Once that waste is picked up by the energy and fertilizer company, Quasar, the sludgy liquid is then put into a large anaerobic digester full of bacteria that then breaks down the liquid into solids. During this process of conversion the system captures the released gas and turns that into electricity which can be used for the grid or transportation. 

With large corporations and or governments beginning to implement these types of changes into their food waste systems they are helping to reduce waste in landfills. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that during the course of a year the United States wastes an estimated 34  million  tons of food. With food waste sitting in landfills it is sitting there creating methane emissions which in turn pollute the air we breath.

So long story short, by changing the way we think of disposing of our food we can help the environment. So next time you throw out food items think of how you can change your habits for the better.