Brochures

Vanguard Renewables advanced Organics Recycling Facility depackages and process expired goods, off-spec batches, or unsafe to eat food and beverage products. The extracted food is transported and recycled at a Massachusetts Farm Powered anaerobic digester, where it is combined with farm waste and converted into renewable energy.

The world’s biggest asset manager is acquiring Vanguard Renewables, a Boston-area company that works with dairy farmers and food companies to produce renewable natural gas for utilities and energy firms such as Dominion Energy Inc. and Enbridge Inc.

Vanguard Renewables and the Farm Powered Sustainability Heroes are on a mission to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in food and beverage manufacturing. Together, by recycling organic waste in Farm Powered anaerobic digesters, we can help repurpose environmentally harmful waste into renewable natural gas (RNG), a carbon-negative thermal fuel source. The Farm Powered Sustainability Heroes is a committed group of food and beverage collaborators dedicated to preserving our planet through recycling organic waste via Farm Powered anaerobic digestion. Ours is a group that holds sustainability, regenerative agriculture practices, and equitable, responsible decision-making above all else.

The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, created in December 2020 by founding partners Vanguard Renewables, Unilever, Starbucks, and Dairy Farmers of America, represents a collaborative movement to boost food waste reduction and recycling, and expand renewable energy production across America.

Vanguard Renewables is a national leader in the development of farm-based food and dairy waste-to-renewable energy projects. We are committed to working alongside the dairy industry now to solve greenhouse gas emissions challenges and enhance long-term operational and economic benefits for farmers.

Work with one waste partner to recycle all of your organic waste; whether it's food or beverage, packaged or not packaged. Mitigate methane emissions that would otherwise occur from alternative waste disposal or recycling options

Vanguard Renewables, the Northeast’s largest organics recycler, offers a circular solution to food waste recycling.

Every day, Vanguard Renewables sets out to change the way the world views waste and how each of us powers our lives. We are committed to reducing on-farm and food-generated greenhouse gas emissions from waste by as much as 95 percent and recycling organic waste into a powerful source of renewable energy and low-carbon fertilizer. We work alongside farms to manage manure, enhance regenerative agriculture practices, improve soil health, protect watersheds, and support herd wellness. Our Farm Powered Strategic Alliance with major food manufacturers and retailers, dairy organizations, and farms provides a path to decarbonization for our partners and a measurable impact in combating climate change.

Based on United States Environmental Protection Agency data, anaerobic digestion is a preferred method of food recovery ranking higher on the food recovery hierarchy triangle than composting or landfill solutions.

When food waste decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas with at least 25 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Municipalities and organizations are beginning to prioritize diverting food waste from landfills by preventing waste, rerouting edible food to food-insecure households, or recycling waste through composting, animal feeding operations, or anaerobic digestion (AD), a process in which microorganisms break down organic material and create biogas and digestate. On April 8, 2021, the Environmental Law Institute, BioCycle, and the American Biogas Council hosted a panel of experts that explored the opportunities and challenges of developing AD projects to divert food waste and recycle it to create valuable products. Below, we present a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.