
Turning Food Waste into Fertilizer
ECOTONE RENEWABLES
Ecotone Renewables is a green technology company that has developed an anaerobic digester inside a shipping container that converts food waste into methane gas, which helps power the system, and liquid fertilizer, which is sold to farms and individuals. Inside the digester is a complex system of pipes and tanks that takes the concept of composting waste and supercharges it—about eight times faster than normal composting. Ecotone has stationed one of the company’s digesters outside the pre-security terminal, and partnered with Hudson Group/Dunkin’ to process their food waste, from coffee grounds to milk to donuts. Dunkin’ inputs up to 400 pounds of food waste each week, which the system processes into a liquid fertilizer, and is then collected and sold as “Soil Sauce.” PIT has tested the Soil Sauce on airport property flower beds and rose bushes. The circular story of food waste to fertilizer to blooming flowers is featured on the container’s mural, painted by local artist Juliandra Jones.