Through the city of West Lafayette Go Greener Commission’s food waste diversion program, food waste is collected from a few key locations in West Lafayette and transported to the wastewater treatment utility and converted into energy via the anaerobic digester. Past collaborations with the Purdue Student Sustainability Council and EEE senior design teams supported the expansion of food waste collection points to include community drop-off locations for West Lafayette residents and Purdue fraternity and sorority houses. As the food waste program continues to increase, the Commission would like to explore additional capture and diversion opportunities at a larger scale.

Food chains such as restaurants, retailers and industries potentially have large food waste streams that can be diverted to the anaerobic digester, saving on tipping fees for businesses and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the wastewater treatment utility. The objective of this project is to develop a strategy to recruit/receive buy-in from restaurants, retailers and industries to increase the food waste diversion program.