Local Organics Recycler Joins Harvest Power, Advancing Food Waste Recycling to Reduce Connecticut’s Waste Stream

Farmington, CT (PRWEB) September 12, 2013

As of September 1, 2013, GreenCycle’s three Connecticut locations will be operating as Harvest New England.

Founded in 2008, Harvest’s vision is to find the highest and best use for the 500 million tons of organic materials produced in North America each year. Harvest currently manages more than 2 million tons of organic material and generates nearly 65,000 megawatt-hours of heat and power annually. The company operates facilities from Florida to New Jersey on the East Coast, California on the West Coast, and in Ontario and British Columbia. Now Harvest adds New England to its operating facilities with the acquisition of GreenCycle of the Northeast.

“We are excited to be part of Harvest Power. The combination of GreenCycle and Harvest will help us advance our existing food waste recycling projects across Connecticut,” says Jamie Repenning, General Manager. “Harvest’s management team adds their deep experience renewable energy, supply chain management, and engineering to our proven expertise in composting. It’s a powerful match that will augment our efforts to divert organic materials from Connecticut’s waste stream.”

“We worked with Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection to establish a successful food waste composting demonstration site in Ellington. After two years, it’s now a permanent facility composting significant volumes of food waste from large volume generators including Stop & Shop, Whole Foods and other Connecticut grocery stores. In partnering with Harvest Power, we see possibilities for Connecticut to develop a new energy facility fueled by food waste in the future. Harvest has already built three new energy facilities in North America that capture food waste from the waste stream and extract the energy it contains.. Adding an energy facility would represent a significant improvement in organic waste recovery in Connecticut.”

Repenning sites Harvest Power’s engineering acumen as essential to developing this breakthrough technology. “We have anaerobic digesters operating in Vancouver, Ontario, and Florida. They each have slightly different technologies, which will allow us to determine which technology to pursue,” he says. “Across the country, there are many anaerobic digestion facilities currently processing cow manure and sewage treatment materials. But there very few that process food waste- it’s significantly more difficult,” says Repenning.

Chris Field, Regional Vice President, says “The finished product from our food waste composting facility is incorporated into our compost blends. It makes a very high-quality compost with very diverse biology and a higher nutrient level. All of our premium compost, like the compost purchased by homeowners to augment their garden soil, benefits from the addition of the food waste compost product.”

For information contact:
Jamie Repenning
General Manager
Harvest New England
860-674-8855
232 Colt Highway
Farmington, CT 06032

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