Marin County public-private partnership has more than 100 participants.
A public-private partnership launched in 2014 between Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) and the Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA), San Rafael, California, now includes more than 100 participating restaurants, caterers and supermarkets committed to converting leftover kitchen scraps into energy via anaerobic digestion.
“The number of willing partners in the Food 2 Energy program has grown faster than we ever expected,” says Ruben Hernandez, MSS recycling programs coordinator. “We have a wide range of businesses in the food services industry contributing their scraps to this project. We’re turning waste into watts and that energy gets used right here in our community.”
The Food Scraps-to-Energy (F2E) program is a public-private partnership between CMSA, a public agency, and MSS, a family-owned local business. The F2E program converts food scraps into energy to power a wastewater treatment plant and is a first for Marin County and one of only two programs of its kind in California, according to MSS.
“It feels good to know we are literally fueling a productive use of the food scraps that would otherwise go to waste in the landfill,” says Jeremy Patin of Nugget Market. “It makes sense all around. We’ve reduced our landfill pickups as we’ve diverted food waste to the F2E program and in this process everyone benefits. We are proud to be a part of this progressive change in Marin County.”
MSS processes the food scraps at its transfer station and transports it to CMSA. Once there the food is mixed with fats, oils and grease from restaurants and other commercial sources, and after that the mixture is pumped into anaerobic digesters. Microorganisms transform the mix into a methane biofuel and a biosolids byproduct that is used as a Class B soil amendment. The methane biofuel is filtered and run through an engine-generator to make electricity at CMSA, which is used to power its daily operations.
“I sleep better at night knowing we are reducing waste and supporting renewable energy,” says Renato Fusari of West Brooklyn Pizza Co. “Even during our busiest shifts, the process by which we collect kitchen scraps is easy and has become second nature for our staff. We are extremely happy with the training and support we get from MSS; of course, the outcome speaks volumes.”
MSS employees work with restaurants, supermarkets and other food service businesses to train their staff and ensure the collection of food scraps goes smoothly. “It’s in everyone’s best interest to make the program as user friendly as possible,” says Hernandez. MSS also provides internal sorting containers and external curbside collection carts that are picked up by an F2E truck.
Food scraps are the largest single source of waste in California, making up more than a quarter of the residential waste stream and 16 percent of the commercial waste stream, according to MSS. A 2014 study conducted by MSS before the F2E program started found that 30 percent of all material sent to the Redwood Landfill is food waste. With nearly 120 businesses diverting their food waste from the landfill and into renewable energy generation, MSS says Marin County is moving closer toward its 2025 zero waste goal.
MSS, founded in 1948, provides curbside recycling, solid waste, yard waste and food scrap hauling and related services.