Port Coquitlam residents can add food scraps to green carts

Canada’s Port Coquitlam last year expanded their waste reduction efforts by introducing the addition of leftover food scraps and food-soiled papers to green waste carts. Everything from meats, dairy, bones and pizza boxes can be added to those carts, as can fruit and vegetable scraps.

Port Coquitlam was the first city in metro Vancouver to initiate a widespread recycling program that targets kitchen waste. It benefits taxpayers by saving about $45,500 per year in biweekly waste pickup. The program also diverts 2,400 tonnes of household waste from landfills. The Source Separated Organics program is assisted by Harvest’s organic’s processing facility, Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre.

All households that receive green waste collection may participate, year-round. Here are the details:

• All you need to participate is a pail with a lid, such as an ice creal pail that you can store in your kitchen under the sink.
• Store your food waste in this container or wrap them in newspaper and place them in a paper bag.
• Transfer your food scraps into a green waste cart alongside yard waste for pick up.

For more information, visit the Web site.

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Adnams Bio Energy creates fuel from brewery, food waste

Construction is complete on the first phase of a groundbreaking project by Adnams Bio Energy Limited that uses anaerobic digestion to transform brewery and food waste into renewable energy.

Based in the United Kingdom, Adnams Brewery has partnered with British Gas and the National Grid to provide a new source for renewable fuel. According to the company, it will generate 4.8 million kilowatt-hours per year, enough energy to heat 235 family homes or run a car for 4 million miles.

The plant offers more than just renewable heat and energy. It diverts methane from landfills that might otherwise pollute the atmosphere. Adnams Bio Energy Chief Executive Andy Wood was quoted on the company’s Web site recently as saying the following:

“For a number of years now, Adnams has been investing in ways to reduce our impact on the environment. The reality of being able to convert our own brewing waste and local food waste to power Adnams’ brewery and vehicles, as well as the wider community is very exciting.

“The industrial ecology cycle is completed when the fertiliser produced from the anaerobic digestion process can be used on farmland to grow barley for Adnams beer. This facility will have a major impact on the reduction of carbon emissions in the region and the production of renewable energy. The food waste would otherwise be destined for landfill, but processing it through the digester will save an estimated 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents from landfill.”

What are your thoughts on the use of brewery and food waste to help fuel this community?

UK moves forward with renewable energy pledge

Anaerobic digestion is a hot topic in the United Kingdom these days when it comes to waste management. The Coalition government is forging ahead with its highly publicized plans to provide more anaerobic digestors to generate heat and electricity from organic waste.

According to an article in today’s BusinessGreen.com, ministers met with representatives across the industry to identify any barriers to the sustainable technology.

As reporter James Murray noted:

“The technology is fueled using biomass such as animal manure, sewage or food waste, which is digested by enzymes working in the absence of oxygen to produce methane. The methane is captured and can be burned off onsite to produce electricity and heat, converted into biofuel, or upgraded to biomethane which can be fed into the national gas grid. The resulting waste material can also be used as fertilizer.”

Anaerobic digestion is well suited to farms and businesses that produce large amounts of organic and food waste. As the article mentions, it also has the power to reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills and can cut greenhouse emissions.

Roundtable discussions will tackle everything from the financial benefits and viability of using anaerobic digestion to ways the government can harness the power of biogas produced through this energy conversion technology.

If you were in attendance, what questions or concerns would you have? What would you most want to know about the addition of this technology on a much broader scale?

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