Vanguard Renewables opens Wisconsin food waste disposal facility

Vanguard Renewables, headquartered in Weston, Massachusetts, has opened a new anaerobic digestion and advanced depackaging facility in River Falls, Wisconsin.

Now Vanguard Renewables’ second location in Wisconsin, the site will provide food and beverage manufacturers, retailers and processors across the Minneapolis-St. Paul region with a sustainable way to recycle food waste.

The River Falls facility is located at Peterson Family Dairy, a fourth-generation farm in Pierce County. Vanguard says it can process up to 275 tons of food and beverage waste per day and will generate 289,000 million British thermal units of renewable natural gas (RNG) annually. The RNG is set to help power AstraZeneca's U.S. research and manufacturing facilities.

The facility is equipped to handle both bulk and packaged food and beverage products and is now accepting new material. According to Vanguard Renewables, it is already processing more than 50 waste streams from over 30 customers in the region.

"Vanguard Renewables gives food and beverage companies a turnkey solution to simplify organics recycling and reduce risk," Kent Bartley, president of organic solutions at Vanguard Renewables, says. "We combine deep industry expertise with full-service capabilities, from managing logistics with our own fleet to providing real-time data for compliance and reporting. Our approach makes organics recycling simple and reliable."