Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC has gotten approval from Massachusetts for a project to convert food waste into energy.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued permits for the grocery chain to build a Product Recovery Operation at its distribution center in Freetown, Mass. The operation will use anaerobic digestion to convert unsold food products into electricity and heat for the facility, as well as generating a fertilizer byproduct, according to a news release.
The operation will process an average of 95 tons per day of unsold food products and have the capacity to produce 1.137 megawatts of energy, which could provide up to 40 percent of the distribution center’s on-site electrical needs.
The recovery operation will process unsold food product from grocery stores, such as produce, bakery, deli items and goods past expiration dates, as well as rejected food product from the distribution center.
Stop & Shop already was diverting its unsold food to composting and animal feed facilities and proposed the project to provide greater environmental and economic benefit through converting the organic material into energy and usable byproduct.
The recovery operation will process unsold food product from grocery stores, such as produce, bakery, deli items and products past expiration dates, as well as rejected food products from the distribution center.