State permitting will pave the way for food waste from 213 Stop & Shop supermarkets to be converted into energy to power the grocery chain's Freetown distribution center.
Quincy-based Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. plans to build a multimillion-dollar, 12,000-square-foot, clean-energy processing center — known as a product recovery operation (PRO) — that will use anaerobic digestion to convert food products not suitable for consumption into electricity and heat for the warehouse and produce a fertilizer byproduct.
The company hopes to bring the facility online early next year. It's the first of its kind in Massachusetts, and a first for the chain, which now sends food waste from its stores to composting and animal feed facilities.
"The PRO will convert these spoiled food products into a clean, odorless gas to fuel a generator that will produce electricity (and heat) to help operate the Freetown distribution center," spokesman Greg O'Brien said.
The 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center operates around the clock. The PRO will process an average of 95 tons of food waste per day and will be able to produce 1.137 megawatts of power for up to 40 percent of the center's electrical needs and backup power in case of an outage.
The state Department of Environmental Protection issued permits for the project Thursday.
"This is really an innovative approach," DEP spokesman Joseph Ferson said. "It dovetails with the Patrick administration's goal of diverting organic waste out of landfills and incinerators to anaerobic digesters to really turn trash into a valuable resource for renewable energy."
Food and other organics account for 25 percent of the state's solid waste stream, and the DEP has a goal to reduce organics disposal by 450,000 tons per year by 2020. It's now finalizing regulations that will require institutions that generate one ton or more of food waste per week to donate or repurpose what's usable and ship what's remaining to an anaerobic, composting or animal-feed operation.
Stop & Shop, which will apply for a 10 percent federal investment tax credit for the project, does not yet have a firm handle on total costs, according to O'Brien.
He stressed that Stop & Shop will continue to donate to food banks. "This is spoiled food that cannot be consumed," he said. It will include unsold food including produce, bakery and deli items, products past expiration dates, and rejected food products from the distribution center.
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