Research has shown that food waste can be converted into biogas and many food manufacturers are now tapping into this opportunity. From an environment point of view, this is a great step because it not only reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, but also creates a new renewable source of energy. Despite the pros, there is still one major disadvantage of the employed technology. It is too expensive, and it has yet to be decided if the costs incurred are worth the pros or not.
A reputed food manufacturer has been trying out this method for quite some time, and has successfully converted the waste produced at their facility into energy. In some regions, this has gone a step ahead and the renewable power which is being generated with food waste is now being supplied to the local power grid.
The above practice is not being observed everywhere. There are some facilities that are not practicing it simply because it incurs excessive costs rather than provide them with profits. In all these areas, efforts are not being made towards establishing such facilities. We talked to one company who has stopped investing in plants that can produce energy from food waste. They told us that if each of these projects is considered on the basis of cash flow, not very impressive results are obtained. The investments are high whereas the outward cash flows are not. Dealing with all these costs is now more difficult than it was three years ago.
So what can the government do to ensure that every company reduces the food waste they produce by themselves? Obviously, plants will have to be built that can convert this into biogas, but other than that, they must be offered incentives as well, which will encourage them to make an investment. We asked a couple of industry experts about this and they suggested that reducing energy rates for these facilities or offering tax advantages might serve the purpose.
Other than food manufacturers, even sports teams have started to convert food leftovers at stadiums into energy. As for the costs, they are dealing with them because they are hopeful that in the long run, this investment will prove to be worthwhile.
Source: www.earth911.com
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