Mar 18 - Food Scrap Digester Opens in Marin

Marin Sanitary Service has announced the launch of its food scraps-to-energy digester program in partnership with the Central Marin Sanitation Agency. The facility will digest food waste and reduce natural gas usage at CMSA's waste water treatment facility. According to the company, the project will handle about 20 tons of food scraps a week from 35 businesses.

This marks the latest of several recent projects to digest food waste that would have otherwise been disposed of, and the second project at a POTW. According to a waste characterization study conducted by Marin Sanitary Service in 2008, 27.1% (4,700 tons) of the material diposed of Redwood Landfill by MSS was food waste.

"Right from the start, we’ve worked closely with CMSA to design a system that ensures the right kind of food scraps show up at our transfer station and are properly prepared for the digesters at CMSA," said Joe Gabarino Jr., chairman of MSS. "It’s the first food-to-energy system in the nation that’s a public-private partnership designed from inception to ensure quality."