“From a sustainability standpoint, we can’t be putting 20% into a landfill with limited space,” Reece said.
At the meeting, city recycling coordinator Bryan Johnson said the city collects about 45,000 tons of garbage and about 10,000 tons of that are food scraps. That’s 10,000 tons of food materials that “we could do something better with than just parking it at the landfill.”
A digester could also combat the linear economy mindset of buying, using and trashing.
“It’s got to be circular,” Reece said.
Committee members accepted the report with an additional recommendation that the city develop a detailed model to implement a digester for the greater Madison area by a specific to-be-determined date.
The consultants completed an analysis of the available feedstock, or raw material that could be processed in a digester, in Dane County from sources like waste haulers, food production facilities and grocers.
Among other tasks, the engineers provided a financial analysis of the project to determine its feasibility. To do that, they selected Yahara Hills Golf Course, which is located across from the Dane County Sanitary Landfill, as a potential location to build a digester facility.