Welcome to the debut of the weekly bioDIGESTer! A new series consisting of weekly project updates and related news around food waste management. Check out what we were up to last week!
Operations
Over Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we loaded a cumulative 3,734 lbs. of food scraps into the system along with 1,100 lbs. of wood shavings which serve as a bulking agent/carbon source (Read a previous blog post to learn more about why we add wood shavings).
We are currently testing American Wood Fibers’ mini flake. These wood shavings account for ~30% of the total weight of the food scraps feedstock in order to adequately account for the moisture level of our food waste stream.
As a result, the 1,500 lbs. of finished compost that we off-loaded was an ideal texture – not too dry and not too wet.
| Food Scraps | Wood shavings (BA/CS) | % BA/CS |
Compost
Off-loaded |
|
| Week Totals (lbs.) | 3,734 | 1,100 | 29% | 1,500 |
Finished compost after it was off-loaded from the system
Food waste in the news:
A diverse set of strategies will be needed if New Jersey plans to meet a state target of cutting food waste by 50% by the year 2030. The Princeton Biodigester project represents further investigation of the potential of on-site food waste re-purposing through in-vessel composting. Read more about the current legislative and technical landscapes around reducing food waste in New Jersey in this deep dive article from Waste Dive:
https://www.wastedive.com/news/new-jersey-food-waste-policy-landfills/539406/