California EPA Releases Study Indicating That Investing in Wastewater Treatment Plants’ Capacity to Process Food Waste May Save Money and the Environment
On August 25, 2020, the California Environmental Protection Agency released a new study suggesting that the state’s wastewater treatment plants, if operating at maximum co-digestion capacity, could process at least half of California’s landfill-bound food waste. Such efforts could help the state meet its organic waste diversion mandate under SB 1383 and reduce CO2-equivalent by as much as 2.4 million metric tons per year. Co-digestion is the process of adding energy-rich organic waste materials (i.e., food scraps) to anaerobic digesters to aid in the decomposition and anaerobic fermentation of the waste. Through the co-digestion process, treatment plants may capture biogas (i.e., methane and carbon dioxide) and ethanol which may be used to produce electricity, fuel, or renewable natural gas. … Read More
Written by Kyler C. Rayden