More Industries, Regions Discovering Power of Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion can turn waste into a valuable resource

Billions of tons of organic waste are generated every day by households, industries, and municipalities. It’s discarded into landfills or discharged as effluent, or both, at a huge cost to the environment. But what if that waste could be turned into energy? The good news is that it can, through anaerobic digestion.

In anaerobic digestion, organic waste is broken down by specialized bacteria in an oxygen-free environment. This process occurs naturally under the layers of buried waste in a landfill, producing methane and carbon dioxide, both greenhouse gases. The process can be mimicked in the controlled environment of a biodigester, and instead of emitting methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, biogas is captured and used as energy.

While anaerobic digesters are commonly used in landfills and on farms to process manure, they are less common in residential areas. Here are some examples of how anaerobic digestion can be beneficial in different settings and at different scales.