Comprehensive Evaluation of Food Waste Co-Digestion

T he New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) has embarked on a three-year study to evaluate the impacts of adding source separated organic food waste to the anaerobic digesters at its largest wastewater treatment facility, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The motivation behind this significant undertaking by NYCDEP, with the results of the bench-scale food waste co-digestion study and details of the planned full-scale food waste co-digestion demonstration, are described on these pages. Additionally, the ongoing effort to synthesize the successes, challenges and operational lessons learned into a spreadsheet-based economic/business case tool as part of a Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) supported project (ENER8R13) is summarized. Overall, the diversion of organic food waste away from landfills and into anaerobic digesters at wastewater treatment plants represents the convergence of two of New York City’s environmental priorities: increasing recycle rates and investing in clean, affordable energy.