When the state of Massachusetts prohibited the landfilling of organic material, the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District made plans to use food waste to boost biogas production from its anaerobic digesters.
The plan has worked so well that the wastewater treatment plant is a net producer of electricity. The district, in North Andover, added a fourth digester, installed a combined heat and power system, and built capacity to accept processed food waste for co-digestion. The project won an Energy Management Achievement award in 2020 from the New England Water Environment Association.
The project cost about $30 million, but about a third of it was paid through
