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EPA honors CA creamery
January 16, 2017 by Environmental Protection Agency
Anaerobic digester heated tanks at Fiscalini Cheese Company where bacteria break down Crystal Creamery by-products into renewable energy and products, including cow bedding and fertilizer EPAJanuary 9, 2017, Modesto, CA – Crystal Creamery has received a Food Recovery Challenge Innovation Award for its zero waste leadership.
Crystal Creamery operates an industrial wastewater pretreatment system to remove organic contaminants from water before the clarified water is discharged to the City of Modesto’s Publicly Owned Treatment Works. Organic by-products are removed and then transported to nearby Fiscalini Cheese Company, which has an anaerobic digestion facility. The by-products are combined with manure and other food waste to produce electricity and valuable commodities such as fertilizer and cow bedding.
The partnership between Crystal Creamery and Fiscalini Cheese Company has allowed Crystal Creamery to achieve the following sustainability goals:
- divert dairy by-products from disposal
- generate renewable energy
- produce fertilizer and animal bedding, and
- support closed loop and zero waste operations.
