• Anaerobic Digestion Data Collection Project
• Co-Digestion Economic Analysis Tool

Anaerobic Digestion Data Collection Project

In the United States, about 95 percent of the food we throw away ends up in landfills or combustion facilities. In 2014, we disposed of more than 38 million tons of food waste. It costs a lot of money to produce food and it is expensive to manage uneaten food as a waste.  To help reduce these costs, EPA promotes diversion of food waste from landfills. Anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities can process food waste that would otherwise go to landfills.

• Learn more about Anaerobic Digestion
• Learn more about the Sustainable Management of Food

EPA recognized that better data about AD facilities was needed. In 2016, EPA obtained approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget to collect data from operators of AD facilities for a period of three years.  Over time, the data collected will allow EPA to:

• Document the processing capacity at AD facilities;
• Track the growth of this capacity; and
• Verify the end-uses of AD products such as digestate and biogas.

AD data is important for EPA and other stakeholders seeking alternatives to landfilling wasted food.  The first phase of data collection, which focused on the year 2015, is complete.  EPA collected this information using electronic surveys. The information is summarized in a report titled: Anaerobic Digestion Facilities Processing Food Waste in the United States in 2015: Survey Results .  This report is the first of three annual reports that EPA will publish on this topic. EPA will continue to gather data and seek to verify data received in 2017 to clarify this information over time. EPA will collect additional data for years 2016, 2017, and 2018 and will publish new reports in 2019 and 2020.

The information collected will help EPA and other stakeholders develop future activities designed to support the use of anaerobic digestion as a management option for wasted food.  Data collection for 2018 is currently underway.  

• Learn more about how to submit data for your AD facility

Although CoEAT was initially designed for use at Water Resource Recovery Facilities, it is a valuable tool for anyone operating an anaerobic digestion system.  Use of the term Water Resource Recovery Facility (or WRRF) in this context is intentional.  The term is indicative of the movement toward managing facilities previously called “Wastewater Treatment Plants” to produce clean water and reduce the nation’s dependence upon fossil fuel through the production and use of renewable energy.  EPA-developed tools like CoEAT play a role in this transition.

• Fixed and recurring costs
• Solid waste diversion savings
• Capital investments

• Biogas production and associated energy value

Co-digesting with wasted food and FOG will increase biogas production at a single-source digestion facility, such as a WRRF or farm digester.  This is beneficial to the facility because biogas can be used to generate energy which can offset costs.  Biogas has many beneficial uses.  There is also the added bonus of less wasted food/FOG being disposed of in landfills and therefore less methane gas being emitted to the atmosphere (from landfills).

The original version of the CoEAT tool was published in July of 2010.   The tool was updated in 2017 and an accompanying user's manual was also developed.  Both the Tool and the manual can be accessed using the links below.

• Co-digestion Economic Analysis Tool (CoEAT) - tool to evaluate costs and benefits of processing wasted food, FOG and other organic materials (xlsm).(10 pp, 1 MB, May 2017, EPA/600/R-16/373)
• Co-EAT Users Manual