Dive Brief:
- A California state energy grant was awarded to Napa, CA. The city is considering acquiring an anaerobic digester with the $3 million it will receive.
- Napa would like to convert food waste collected in the community into fuel to be used in the city's municipal waste fleet. Napa has 35 collection trucks.
- Napa Recycling and Waste Services, in conjunction with the city of Napa, have implemented a small pilot project that transforms discarded food waste into compost. The city would like to expand upon the project using the grant.
Dive Insight:
The current project has about 2,300 participants, plus 60 businesses. The expansion of the compost program would include the whole city population and parts of the county. The expected cost of the facility would be approximately $12.7 million, and the remaining funds would be from bond financing. The Napa City Council must greenlight the project. The facility, if approved, could potentially convert 25,000 tons of food waste into 328,000 gallons of fuel every year. 36 million tons of food waste is discarded annually, with just a fraction of that, 5%, being recycled. The infrastructure is not available in many areas, making it difficult for cities and states to mandate food waste. The construction of the facility in Napa could invite new legislation.
