$43 million AD facility opens in Utah

A new anaerobic digestion facility in Utah opened to the public this week will convert food waste to clean, renewable energy, local news outlet Desert News Utah reports.

Around 700 tonnes of food waste is to be taken and turned into energy by Wasatch Resource Recovery, a public-private partnership between Alpro Energy & Water and the South Davis Sewer District, daily.

Desert News Utah reports that when the facility expands in the near future, it will nearly double the 700 tonnes of food waste to about 1,400 tonnes.

The Desert News Utah states that Wasatch Resource Recovery said in a press release, "The anticipated amount of organic waste diverted to the anaerobic digester each year will equate to taking over 75,000 cars from the highway in carbon emissions.”

The new plant will be the first in Utah that is able to convert food waste into energy on a large scale, compared to those already in place, states Desert News Utah.

Wasatch Resource Recovery’s plant sustainability manager, Morgan Bowerman said, “We're able to take the meat and the dairy and the cooked foods and the processed foods, sugary foods and packaged foods."

Bowerman continued, "We can process all of that food waste here. So we get to do the full plate … at this facility. And there is nothing else like it here in Utah."

The plant will be producing enough energy to fuel a town of around 40,000 people. The total cost of the Utah facility is $43 million (€37.9 million). After its first year of operation, the plant intends to place bins outside so that that people can drop off their own food waste.