Machine Helping Muscatine "Go Green"

MUSCATINE, Iowa - Muscatine is using a new high strength waste machine that separates unused food and packaging so the leftover organic waste can be used for renewable energy.

KWQC TV6 reports the city started using the machine last week as part of their waste to renewable energy project. The waste is then used to make fertilizer and natural gas.

Director of the Muscatine Water and Resource Recovery Facility Jon Koch tells KWQC TV6, "Almost 30 percent of everything in the landfill is organic waste. A lot of that is food waste. We said hey, if we can take that organic waste going to a landfill and add to our process at the wastewater plant, we'd make a lot more energy. A lot more gas."

Packaging is dropped into the machine and centrifugal force separates the contents from the packaging. The waste, like mayonnaise and ketchup, is then pumped into a tanker and taken to the wastewater plant and put into anaerobic digesters.

This is the first of its kind in the Midwest.

The $3 million project is funded through a reserve fund through the Muscatine Water and Resource Recovery facility.

Photo courtesy of KWQC TV6.


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