Grocery Chain Boosts Food Waste Recycling

The supermarket and grocery store chain, Kroger, has announced a new anaerobic composting and digestion system designed for converting food that is not eligible for donation or sale into a fuel efficient biogas that will be used to power a regional distribution center in Compton, California.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the national retailer anticipates that the new system will be responsible for processing and converting in excess of fifty five thousand tons annually of unsalable and unconsumable organics and food waste – approximately one hundred and fifty tons of waste material each day. It is anticipated that the energy generated will be responsible for close to twenty percent of the energy required by the regional distribution center.

The program is the first of its kind for Kroger and received support and assistance from California Governor Jerry Brown, in addition to CalRecycle, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Compton, and Resource Recovery.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: Food and organic waste material has many uses beyond feeding people and animals! If your business generates a substantial amount of food waste on a monthly or even weekly or daily basis, it’s worth investigating your options other than disposing of it in a landfill. You’ll be saving money on your disposal fees if that food waste can be turned into compost or biogas energy!