Energy-Producing Food Waste Facilities

A new organics processing plant has commenced operations in River Falls, Wisconsin. It is operated by Vanguard Renewables, a company specializing in converting waste into energy.

The new organics processing plant is designed to address the specific needs of food producers, sellers, and distributors in the surrounding metropolitan area by offering a managed service for discarding organic material. This comes in response to increasing legislative mandates in both Wisconsin and Minnesota that require businesses to responsibly handle packaging and divert food scraps from landfills. The site employs a biological breakdown process in an oxygen-free environment, paired with machinery to separate waste from its containers. It is capable of handling hundreds of tons of material daily. The end products are renewable natural gas, which is contracted to a pharmaceutical corporation for powering its operations, and digestate that can be used in farming.

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