Development of a Novel Food Waste Collection Kiosk and Waste-to-Energy Business Model

Matthew Franchetti

doi:10.3390/resources5030026

Abstract

The U.S. generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year, and over 95% of it is disposed of at U.S. landfills. This paper describes the development of a novel food waste collection kiosk and business model called “Greenbox” that will collect and store food waste from households and restaurants with incentives for user participation to spur food waste-to-energy production in a local community. Greenbox offers a low-cost collection point to divert food waste from landfills, reduce greenhouse gases from decomposition, and aid in generating cleaner energy. A functional prototype was successfully developed by a team of engineering students and a business model was created as part of a senior design capstone course. Each Greenbox unit has the potential to reduce 275 metric tons of food waste per year, remove 1320 kg of greenhouse gases, and create 470,000 liters of methane gas while providing a payback period of 4.2 years and a rate of return of 14.9%.

Highlights

Introduction and Problem StatementCurrently, the U.S generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year and over95% of it is disposed into landfills [1]
The U.S generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year and over
Collection companies typically use the food waste, an organic substance, in anaerobic digestion (AD) to harness the primary byproducts: methane gas and liquid effluent. This will be done via a community-based rewards system, encouraging people to participate in the program and direct their food waste in a positive direction

Summary

Introduction

The U.S generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year and over. 95% of it is disposed into landfills [1] This equates to over 90 kg of food waste each year for every man, woman, and child in the U.S Landfill disposal of food waste is problematic because as it decomposes, it generates methane gas (a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2 ) and occupies space in the natural environment that may be used for other purposes [2]. The goals of this research were to develop a novel and sustainable solution to reduce the landfill disposal of food waste and to convert the food waste into “green” energy. The student team developed a food waste collection kiosk (named “Greenbox”) with the following objectives: (1) to develop a functional

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Results

Conclusion