In the News

Guardian Sustainable Business, “Disney World’s biogas facility: a model for converting food waste into energy,” by Marc Gunther

The circular economy at Disney World may not be as pretty as Cinderella’s Castle, but this process for turning organic waste into energy, which is known as anaerobic digestion, could turn out to be the best way to extract value from food scraps and treated sewage that would otherwise wind up in a landfill.

“We’re able to turn all of the waste stream into productive products,” says Kathleen Ligocki, the chief executive of Harvest Power, a venture capital-funded clean-tech company that built the Florida facility. “This is our goal – pumpkins to power, waste to wealth.”

Business in Vancouver, “Metro Vancouver hopes to boost compost rates with new ad campaign.”

Metro Vancouver is hoping an adorable mascot made out of pasta leftovers will convince residents that “food isn’t garbage.”

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Banning organic material from the landfill will reduce methane gas, a contributor to global warming, according to Metro Vancouver. Businesses like Harvest Power and Delta-based EnviroSmart Organics turn food waste into valuable compost and, in Harvest Power’s case, energy.

JD News, “Harvest Power Division Headquarters Locating in Iredell County,” Governor McCrory’s Press Office

Governor Pat McCrory and N.C. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker announced today that Harvest Garden Pro, LLC a division of Harvest Power, Inc. is planning to locate its division headquarters in Iredell County, creating 33 jobs and investing approximately $120,000 over the next three years in Mooresville.

Triple Pundit, ”Can B Corp Certification Help You Raise Capital?” by Ryan Honeyman

While researching and writing “The B Corp Handbook,” I found that B Corp certification can help you attract: mission-driven or impact investors who consider social, environmental and financial criteria in their investment decisions; mainstream investors who are primarily interested in strong financial returns; and larger companies interested in acquiring a cutting-edge and innovative brand.

“Our shareholders knew about and supported our B Corp certification. Harvest Power is focused on profitability as a business, and I don’t think becoming a B Corporation contradicts that.”  – Paul Sellew, Founder, Harvest Power

Forbes, “$42 Billion for Smarter Waste Management,” by Heather Clancy

With the volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) projected to reach 2.2 billion tons by 2023 (compared with 1.5 billion tons this year), communities and businesses are reconsidering disposal strategies with an eye toward minimizing consumption and getting smarter about recovery.

That movement will inspire investments in smart waste technologies to help with collection, processing, energy recovery and disposal, to the tune of $42 billion cumulatively between now and 2023, predicts Navigant Research.

Boston Globe Magazine: Massachusetts’ New Composting Rules: What They Really Mean, by Chris Burdik

As of Oct. 1,Massachusetts has banned any establishment that creates a ton or more of food waste per week from sending as much as a carrot peel to the state’s rapidly dwindling available landfills. Despite a recycling rate topping 40 percent, Massachusetts businesses and households still toss about 6.5 million tons of garbage every year — enough to fill up Fenway Park 74 times.

Biomass Magazine, “Balancing Digester Diets” by Kate Fletcher

About twice the size of JC-Biomethane is Harvest Power’s 50,000-ton food waste community digester near Orlando, Florida. Some waste from Disney World is brought to the facility, including the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels at Grande Lakes Orlando.

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After contaminant removal in Harvest Power Florida’s low solids AD process, “the mix tank is used to mix some of the fat, oils and grease, food waste and the other types of materials and blend them together so you don’t send slugs of one heavy material over another into the digesters,” says Brandon Moffatt, senior vice president of energy for Harvest Power. “It’s trying to have the right mix and always trying to keep that in balance, so we’re continuing to optimize our recipe and make sure we have balanced feeding to make sure the system is stable.”

Blue Earth Compost, “Behold, the Power of Harvest Power Compost!”

This past weekend, Alex, (Owner & Director of Operations extraordinaire), cultivated some beautiful garlic and onions in his home garden using…the power of Harvest Power New England‘s compost! The very same compost created by our household an business subscribers. It is so wonderful (and delicious) to see this come full circle.

Forbes, ”Fertile Opportunity Awaits for Food Waste Processors,” by Heather Clancy.

Five-year-old anaerobic digestion company Harvest Power, for example, is processing more than 2 million tons of organic waste per year at its “Energy Garden” facilities, producing approximately 33 million bags of soil and mulch in the process. “In North America, over the next few years, heightened consciousness about the alternatives to dumping organics wastes in landfills will drive tremendous opportunities for companies able to recycle organic wastes into clean energy for our communities and soil enhancement products for our gardens and agricultural land,” noted CEO Kathleen Ligocki early this year.

Techonomy, “A food Waste Reduction Movement Gathers Steam,” by Leslie Pascaud.

The good news is that both corporations and consumers now have access to a growing number of initiatives making it easier to avoid waste—solutions that go from farm to store to fridge, and all the way through to trash. A few examples:

• Trash Power: A growing number of companies are monetizing even rotten food. Harvest Power has 40 plants across the North America that take food waste plus leaves and yard trimmings and through anaerobic digestion and composting transform them into renewable energy to power neighborhood homes. A fringe benefit: natural fertilizer that Harvest Power sells to farmers and landscapers.

ZDNet, “Could food waste power our cities?“  by Julie Mehta

In two giant airtight vats at Harvest Power’s Energy Garden in central Florida, quadrillions of microorganisms are feasting on orange peels, wilted lettuce, burnt bread crusts, and other food discarded by humans. In less than a month, these ravenous creatures consume waste that would have taken years to decompose in a landfill.

Better yet, they release immense amounts of gas — biogas, to be exact. This heady mix of roughly 60 pecent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide is fed into generators to produce electricity to help power area businesses.

The Province, “What happens to your scraps?,” by Cassidy Olivier

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the food scraps you toss into your green bin, the place to go looking for answers is at the end of a nondescript road just off Westminster Highway in Richmond.

That’s where you’ll find Joe Canning, general manager of Harvest Power, who will gladly walk you through the complicated, and entirely engrossing, process that turns yesterday’s leftovers into the building blocks for tomorrow’s food.

CNN Money, “Disney turns food scraps into electricity,” by CNN Money 2014.07.12

Yale Environment 360: On the Front Lines of Recycling, Turning Food Waste into Biogas, by Rachel Cernansky, 2014.06.26.

 The Daily Beast, “Will Food Waste Power Your Home?” New Energy Economy 2014.06.16