There's been a lot of conversations about implementing policies that advocate for zero-waste practices in the foodservice industry, and the city of Toronto may have finally found the ultimate solution. The city has announced its plans to launch North America’s first-ever bio-gas powered garbage trucks in March 2020. The trucks will collect food scraps and bring it into the facility, where the organic waste will be processed accordingly.
"It's one of the most significant actions the city can take," said Carlyle Khan, director of infrastructure and resources management at the City of Toronto. "Because we're not using resources to withdraw and clean fossil fuels, we're using the waste that's already produced".
The project has been in the works since 2015 and will utilise anaerobic digesters to capture all of the biogas produced by the waste and transform it into renewable natural gas. The by-product will then be used to power the Toronto garbage trucks and facilitate a sustainable cycle that is both eco-conscious and cost-effective.
A reported 1.3 billion tonnes of food ends up in landfill to decompose and release methane, which accounts for 6.7 percent of the world's carbon gas emissions. Toronto's latest scheme is a perfect example of how cities are starting to think about building infrastructures and services that address the issue.
