Dive Brief:

• Wegmans stores are working with two New York farms to convert food waste into electricity.
• Noblehurst Farms, in York, and Lawnhurst Farms, in Canandaigua, are getting food waste from a dozen Wegmans stores, which is powering operations at the farms. The food waste is collected from the stores and transported twice daily to the farms.
• After delivery of the food waste to the farms, it is ground up and pumped into an anaerobic digester. Gas created from the food waste is used to create electricity, which powers a milk plant and a farm; the remaining electricity that is created is sold to a utility.

Dive Insight:

According to Wegmans, last year its stores diverted approximately 2.5 million pounds of food from being placed in a landfill. The grocery chain currently has a dozen of its stores participating in its New York food waste program, and company officials hope to expand the program to 32 stores by next year. If a firm the size of Wegmans can successfully divert millions of pounds of food waste, larger firms cannot be too far behind.