LEFTOVERS GO TO WORK, NOT WASTE
LAX Pioneers with Department of Public Works To "Digest" Food Waste, Convert Into Energy
(Los Angeles, California – May 7, 2001) Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, has begun a first-of-its kind, six-month pilot program to recycle food "leftovers" into electricity to be fed to the local power grid. The program is expected to lead to recycling all discarded food from LAX, and is being watched by public agencies and municipalities nationwide for its potential to divert waste from landfills, while simultaneously generating energy.
The potential payoff is great. As much as 7,800 tons of food waste each year from LAX's food/beverage concessions and restaurants are now being shipped to landfills. This food waste, instead, could be processed and converted into electricity. This pilot program is part of the City of Los Angeles’ commitment to environmental leadership. The Bureaus of Sanitation and Engineering from the Department of Public Works are involved in this effort.
Working with the airlines, their catering contractors, and airport restaurants, LAX already provides over 100,000 pounds of uneaten, prepared meals annually to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank for distribution to charitable agencies and shelters that feed the hungry. But recycling kitchen scraps and uneaten leftovers from people’s plates is a new process, and City officials believe the LAX pilot program to be the first of its kind.
"The benefit to the environment of recycling food waste is as great as the potential cost-savings to taxpayers by helping reduce the need for more landfills to be constructed in the future," said Roger Johnson, deputy executive director for environmental affairs at Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), which owns and operates LAX. "Once we conclude the pilot program and refine the recycling process, our goal is to divert nearly 8,000 tons of discarded food from landfills and put that waste to good use. Our food-waste recycling program potentially could be adopted by food processors and amusement parks."
During the pilot program, food waste from Gate Gourmet, an airline catering company, is collected each day and transported from LAX to the Department of Public Works’ nearby Hyperion Treatment Plant, where it is ground up into very tiny particles and mixed with water to create a slurry. This slurry is then "fed" to a tank, or "digester," along with other waste matter, and heated to 131 degrees Fahrenheit to speed the process of breaking down the organic solid matter into methane gas and carbon dioxide. The methane gas is then piped off-site to a power generation plant, where it augments a portion of the plant's fuel that is burned to create steam used in generating electricity. Any resulting excess electricity becomes part of the public power grid.
The residual biosolids – formerly known as "sludge" – are concentrated and recycled to enrich soil, and the water which results from the recycling process is further treated and reclaimed as irrigation water for public property. LAX is the first major property on Los Angeles' Westside to use reclaimed water from the Hyperion Treatment Plant for landscaping irrigation. The airport saves more than 100 acre-feet of fresh water -- enough to meet the typical needs of 200 families of four for an entire year.
The process of "digesting" the food waste will be refined throughout the pilot program to reach the optimum recycling conditions, and will then be adapted for full-scale use so all food waste from LAX can ultimately be diverted from landfills.
LAWA’s environmentally-minded programs have garnered awards from the Coalition for Clean Air, U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program, the Airports Council International-North America, the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, the Southern California Association of Governments, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Association, and the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
Los Angeles World Airports is a self-supporting department of the City of Los Angeles, which owns and operates a world-class system of four airports: Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Palmdale Regional, and Van Nuys. LAWA’s combined airports move 74 million passengers and 2.7 million tons of cargo annually. They employ, directly and indirectly, more than 478,000 people, and pump nearly $67 billion annually into the Southern California economy. Additional information about LAWA is available at www.lawa.org .
The Department of Public Works, the City’s third largest Department, is responsible for construction, renovation and operation of City facilities and infrastructures. It employs over 5,400 people. Additional information about the Department is available at www.lacity.org .
