The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent $200,000 award to a south-central Colorado local food coalition to help keep food out of landfills will help combat climate change, an agency administrator said in a recent news release.
San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition, headquartered in Alamosa, Colorado, received the award for a food waste processing project aimed at keeping food and other organic waste out of landfills, according to an EPA news release issued July 6.
"Keeping food waste out of landfills and converting it to fuel is a powerful tool for combatting the climate crisis," EPA Region 8 Administrator Kathleen Becker said in the news release. "Projects like these can meet local needs and address global challenges."
San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition will spend the funds through one of its programs, Valley Roots Food Hub, which plans to install a high-efficiency anaerobic digestion system on the program's campus in Mosca, Colorado. The system is designed to process food and other organic waste into fuel.
"This project will be innovative for the San Luis Valley and will provide opportunities for demonstration, education and expansion into other parts of the region," Becker said.
Becker, a Boulder, Colorado, resident and former speaker of the state House who served four terms in the state's Legislature, was appointed administrator of EPA's Region 8 in November. EPA's Region 8 encompasses Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 28 tribal nations.
San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition is a grassroots organization active throughout the San Luis Valley and region.
Valley Roots Food Hub plans to launch the anaerobic digestion system at its Renewable Energy Park at the Mosca campus, according to the news release. The park will serve as an educational and demonstration space for learning and to share the benefits of anaerobic digestion, in addition to other forms of renewable energy. Valley Roots Food Hub's new AD anaerobic digestion is expected to demonstrate technological feasibility and cost-effectiveness of converting food and other organic waste into processing and cooking fuel.
"The EPA's visionary funding for diverting organics out of landfill streams and providing opportunity for carbon-neutral renewable energy is a great catalyst for rural communities working on these issues,” Valley Roots Food Hub General Manager Nick Chambers said in the news release.
