Last month, Waste Management was selected by Metro to build a facility that will help turn our food scraps into biogas, one of the cleanest burning fuels there is!
Biogas is a type of biofuel naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. When organic matter, like food scraps or animal waste, break down in an anaerobic environment (an environment absent of oxygen) they release a blend of gases — primarily methane and carbon dioxide. Because this decomposition happens in an anaerobic environment, the process of producing biogas is also known as anaerobic digestion.
Waste Management has developed a new technology using local, Oregon food scraps to help create biogas. Food scraps will first be converted into a “bio-slurry” (sounds yummy, huh?) at its North Portland plant. It will then be trucked to the city’s waste water treatment plant on N. Columbia Blvd where it will be digested in the sewage plant’s anaerobic digester. The result? Clean burning biogas. Another benefit from this program? As a project contractor, Waste Management qualifies as a credit generator through Oregon’s Clean Fuels Standard, and the City may potentially be eligible for credits too.
Read more about the project in the Portland Tribune here . We’ll continue to post updates as the project develops.