Economic Impact | Waste Management, Recycling & Composting

Waste Management

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has participated in demonstration projects, assisted with industry level strategic planning, and provided business assistance and network development services for a variety of stakeholders in this evolving industry, particularly in waste-to-energy and composting.

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Vermont Farm to Plate Program
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Indications of Progress in Vermont

  • The Vermont Foodbank increased the tons of food rescued from Vermont food enterprises by 206% from 2011 to 2016. This totaled 1,836 tons of food rescued in 2016.
  • From 2012 to 2016 total waste generated in Vermont decreased 1.1% from 592,132 tons to 585,789 tons. Over the same period, total waste diverted from landfills increased by 3,064 tons (1.5%), with organics diversion increasing 9,723 tons (28.1%).
  • The State of Vermont’s recycling/composting rate rose 3% in 2016.
  • Food scrap composters accepted 15% more food scraps for composting in 2016 than in 2015.
  • There are 18 registered compost drop-off facilities that are currently accepting over 12,800 tons of food scraps annually.
  • Vermont has 20 anaerobic digesters sprinkled around the state which combined produce 17.2 MW of electricity (2015 data).

VSJF’s business assistance services have been enormously helpful in clarifying our business development goals and needs.

Karl Hammer
Owner, Vermont Compost Company

VSJF Program and Service Results

In 2016, the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and Vermont Technical College published the Community Anaerobic Digester Report to demonstrate how a community scale biodigester can keep excess nutrients out of watersheds and food residuals out of landfills while generating renewable electricity. VSJF served as a project partner with Vermont Tech, home of the anaerobic digester known as “Big Bertha.” The project was funded by Vermont State College resources and congressional directed awards from the U.S. Department of Energy, thanks to Senator Patrick Leahy.

  • The Vermont Tech digester sent 2,231,477kWh to the grid and brought in $304,000 in revenue to the college in 2016, transforming over 2 million gallons of manure and over 1 million gallons of food waste into electricity and nutrient rich organic matter for farm fields.
  • “Big Bertha” also serves as a learning laboratory at Vermont Tech, where students assist with its maintenance and learn functionality.
  • Vermont Tech Community Anaerobic Digester Final Report to the U.S. Department of Energy

The Vermont Tech digester project has fulfilled exactly what I hoped would be accomplished when I sought the funding. It is a true research digester, and Vermont Tech and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund have put together a project that will add greatly to our knowledge of how to build and operate digesters at this scale, while giving Vermont Tech students first-hand experience with the technology, experience that can’t be matched by much larger research universities.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy

VSJF Vermont Sustainability Funders

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VSJF Vermont Sustainability Clients

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Are you interested in becoming a client to grow your business, industry sector, or replicate one of our approaches? We offer a suite of services for businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies.
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Are you interested in partnering with us to build a thriving economic, social, and ecological future for Vermont? We invite collaboration from diverse stakeholders in all areas of our work.
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