[Digestion] Food-waste anaerobic digester at Universityof Colorado

[Dick Gallien]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harmon Seaver" <hseaver at gmail.com>


>   Wouldn't the best use of food waste be to feed it to pigs -- then
> harvest the meat and use the pig manure for fertilizer or else AD it?

I agree Harmon and have been feeding food waste to hogs for 10 years, 
because hogs are probably the ultimate recyclers of food waste, so fit well 
in completeing the organic cycle on my farm, using materials that most 
urbanites look at as wastes, to be burned, buried or flushed.  However, 
this country is awash in food and obesity and runs on public relations or 
bs, so food waste fed to hogs, to enrich the soil, doesn't register on the 
US bs scale.  Also federal law requires that food waste be cooked at 212F, 
for 30. min., before feeding, which is a pain and difficult to enforce, 
which is part of why it is rumored that the Mob controls it in NJ..  It is 
up to each state as to whether they allow food waste feeding and I don't 
think Wi., Ia. and the Dakotas do, so there is little incentive to mess with 
recycling it in those states.  All supermarkets and most schools in Winona 
(pop. 25,000) send their food waste 75 mi. to a Wi. landfill, partly because 
the schools pay a flat refuse rate, with zero incentive to reduce and 
although it is half the price if I pick up from supermarkets, I would guess 
they prefer to landfill, because they don't want the public to see how much 
perfectly good food they waste and their lawyers don't want to take any 
chances on the hog feeding backfiring, in that if there were a desease 
outbreak, it could be traced to the source, who would be liable.

I pick up about 5 ton of food waste a week, mostly from Winona State U. and 
am interested in a small digester, because energy production registers on 
the bs scale and should give us a chance to convince one supermarket that 
they can get good/safe pr by recycling their food waste (also take wax 
boxes, most of which go to landfills), especially if some students are 
involved.  For 3 yrs., 7 days a week I picked up 10 to 12 thirty two gal. 
Rubbermaid barrels a day from the largest supermarket in Winona, which was 
owned by Erickson of Hudson, Wi., who insisted their food waste be recycled, 
because it saved them money, but mostly because they had an environmental 
conscience--which is very rare.  They sold to Nash Finch, who ended the 
recycling and closed the store, after a few years.

I also have tons of compostable materials and the machinery to move it with, 
so can keep a digester warm in the coldest weather. Always looking for 
suggestions.  Thanks,  Dick

Dick Gallien
22501 East Burns Valley Road
Winona  MN  55987
dickgallien at msn.com  [507]454-3126
www.thewinonafarm.com

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