Category Archives: Energy

When Packaging Helps

On Monday, the Freakonomics Blog made a, well, economical case for why we should care more about food waste than packaging waste. Writing as a Super Freak(onomics member), James McWilliams provided a neat summary of why I don’t write more about food packaging. In a word, it’s methane: But if you take the packaging away […]

February 10, 2010 | Also posted in Technology, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Waste Revolution (coming soon)

Bold stuff coming from the UK. Yesterday, the Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn announced plans to turn Britain into a zero waste nation. Eventually. Benn pointed to a goal of diverting 75 percent of household waste from landfill by 2019. In addressing food waste, Benn alluded to the fast-progressing (in the UK) anaerobic […]

October 14, 2009 | Also posted in International, Stats, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sky Vegetables–where do I invest? While they don’t have a roof-top garden operating yet, part of their plan is to compost and use food scraps from the building on which the garden sits.  — — Some folks in Vermont are hoping to show why it’s called the Green Mountain State, as they’re looking into creating energy from food waste, via anaerobic digestion […]

October 9, 2009 | Also posted in College, Composting, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

A Cape Cod mother reflects on how much trash can collect in just one weekend. The article includes an interesting discussion of reducing waste via Pay-As-You-Throw trash collection. — — Good to see the (tennis) U.S. Open is composting the food scraps from its central kitchens, but why not have composting bins on the concourse for fans? We’ll call […]

September 4, 2009 | Also posted in College, Composting, Events, Friday Buffet, Trayless, Vermiculture, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Do missed shots with this popcorn flinging bucket mean food waste? Not if you believe in the five-second rule! Wild Fling, you do not make my heart sing.  — — Purdue University has plans to send its food waste to an existing anaerobic digester at a nearby waste water treatment plant.   And San Jose is looking at A.D. as […]

August 7, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The food waste book market is ‘hotting up.’ A book called Waste is now out in the UK. I’m excited about it and hope to get my hands on a copy soon. — — California’s East Bay MUD is the first wastewater treatment plant in the U.S. to turn post-consumer food waste into energy via […]

July 17, 2009 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed

Say Hey, San Jose!

Anaerobic digestion news always seems to come in yin and yang proportions. This week, the good news from San Jose is tempered by bad news from Connecticut. But let’s focus on the positive. After all, plenty of anaerobic digestion projects have been proposed, but few, er, no commercial-scale, food-waste-to-energy plants exist in the U.S. And […]

June 24, 2009 | Posted in Energy | Comments closed

Wesleyan To Drop Tray

I’ve stopped noting when individual schools go trayless because it has become too hard to keep track (a great problem to have, of course). But I have to make an exception here with the news that my alma mater, Wesleyan, is going trayless next fall. That said, I’m curious what the heck took such an […]

April 28, 2009 | Also posted in College, Trayless | Comments closed

East Bay Energy

Here’s a nice recap of Oakland’s uber-progressive food-waste-to-energy plant. East Bay Municipal Utility District (East Bay MUD) has an anaerobic digestion plant that converts Oakland’s food waste to energy, which it then use to power the West Oakland sewage treatment plant. Cool! I think anaerobic digestion is a sound destination for that inedible food waste […]

April 16, 2009 | Also posted in Composting | Comments closed

Fresh Brewed Waste?

You’re all probably familiar with the Keurig one-shot coffee machines. They’re pretty handy, I suppose. Well, one rationale for these machines that I can appreciate is that they prevent offices (and homes) from wasting pots of coffee. I usually focus on food waste–not beverages–but coffee dumping seems so egregious. Most cafes, restaurants and convenience stores […]

March 2, 2009 | Also posted in Environment, Waste Stream | Comments closed