Food Watch: Waste

Garbage and Recycling

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Kroger Unveils A Clean Energy Production System Powered By Food Waste
PRNewswire: 5.15.2013

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today unveiled a clean energy production system that will convert food that can't be sold or donated into clean energy to help power its Ralphs/Food 4 Less Compton distribution center.

The anaerobic conversion system will process more than 55,000 tons of organic food waste into renewable energy annually and provide power for the over 650,000 square foot distribution center. By diverting that food waste – the equivalent of 150 tons per day – the system will also reduce area truck trips by more than 500,000 miles each year. The Kroger Recovery System uses a sophisticated process to convert the carbon in organic material into a renewable source of methane.

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The Kroger Recovery System utilizes anaerobic digestion, a naturally occurring process, to transform unsold organics and onsite food-processing effluent into renewable biogas. This biogas is then turned into power for onsite operations. The process is carried out in an enclosed, oxygen-free environment, which means the process takes up less space and generates no odors. The system will provide enough renewable biogas to offset more than 20% of the energy demand of the Ralphs/Food 4 Less distribution center. Combining the use of renewable energy power with more than 150 zero emission fuel cell fork lifts, the Ralphs/Food4Less distribution center is now one of the greenest and most efficient, advancing the City of Compton as a leading sustainable community.

About FEED Resource Recovery Inc.

The Kroger Recovery System is designed and operated by FEED Resource Recovery Inc., a clean technology company founded in Boston, Mass in 2007. FEED Resource Recovery (FEED) has designed and implemented a groundbreaking Zero Waste solution (called R2S) for the food industry. FEED's innovative and proprietary approach leverages customers' existing transportation and distribution systems to generate clean, sustainable power for onsite operations, reduce emissions and save millions of dollars on waste removal costs.  READ MORE !

 

Library Burbank Green Blog

Food Watch - Eating Green

Green Eating: By the Numbers
Planet Green – How to Go Green: Eating

30 %: Increase in both fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused from shipping a pound of apples from a farm in Iowa to a market in Washington, compared to shipping those apples to a local market in Iowa.

5: Number of countries the average U.S. meal comes from.

1500 to 2500: Number of miles food travels between farm and market. That’s 25 % farther than it traveled two decades ago.

958: Liters of water it takes to make one liter of orange juice; 958 liters of water for irrigation, 2 liters of fuel for tractors, water-pumping, pesticide spraying, and the occasional electric heater to ward off frost.

8000: Kilometers worth of travel required to gather all the ingredients to make strawberry yogurt in Germany.

Other Green Eating websites:

Eating Green Calculator

Local Harvest: find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

Food Routes: a national non-profit dedicated to reintroducing Americans to their food - the seeds it grows from, the farmers who produce it, and the routes that carry it from the fields to our tables. Search for: Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapters

Local Eating for Global Change: the 100 mile diet.