In Chicago, a New Food Waste Solution Combines Renewable Energy and Urban Farming, Elma Christian

Chicago’s South Side is showing the world what circular sustainability looks like in action. As highlighted in a recent TriplePundit article, Green Era’s new campus has turned a once-abandoned brownfield into a thriving hub for clean energy, food equity, and community resilience. At the heart of it? A cutting-edge anaerobic digester that transforms food waste into renewable natural gas and nutrient-rich compost.

Instead of sending food scraps to landfill, this system is creating power and helping to grow food. The compost supports a nearby seven-acre farm, and a vertical farm is on the way—expected to produce more than 26,000 pounds of fresh food each year for local communities.

What we love most about this project is how it brings everything together: waste reduction, renewable energy, urban farming, and community development. It’s a perfect example of what’s possible when sustainability is baked into every layer of a project.

Green Era’s work is more than just an impressive innovation—it’s a model that other cities can follow as they rethink how to manage resources and empower local communities.

Renewable energy is providing frontline communities with a new paradigm that brings local benefits over and above simply producing power. A new project launched by the Chicago-based nonprofit organization Green Era, for example, demonstrates how biogas production can perform multiple tasks, working as a sustainable food waste solution for local businesses while supporting urban farmers and gardeners as well.

https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2025/chicago-food-waste-anaerobic-digester/821026

Chicago, IL, USA - May 12, 2018: Tourists visit Cloud Gate in Millennium Park in the evening. The sculpture was completed in 2006.

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