How Colorado Is Turning Food Waste Into Electricity
By Luke Runyon, NPR.
Americans throw away about a third of our available food.
But what some see as trash, others are seeing as a business opportunity. A new facility known as the Heartland Biogas Project is taking wasted food from Colorado's most populous areas and turning it into electricity. Through a technology known as anaerobic digestion, spoiled milk, old pet food and vats of grease combine with helpful bacteria in massive tanks to generate gas.
I went to check out the facility. It's located on a rural road in northern Colorado, situated a stone's throw from big beef cattle feedlots and dairy farms and a short drive from the state's populous, waste-generating urban core.
Follow your nose to know you're in the right place. There's no way around it: The place stinks. The odor is a mix of cow poop and expired produce.