Planning a Food Scraps to Energy Project     

The City of Oceanside received $4.2 million in grant funds from the State and $2.0 million from the federal WaterSmart program to help pay for a project that would locally produce renewable energy from the food scraps and food-soiled materials collected throughout the City. A Food Scraps to Energy Project is being planned to be located at the northeast area of the City of Oceanside's San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility.

As part of the planning process, and as required by the State, the City is preparing an environmental document called an Initial Study Mitigated Negative Declaration. The draft document will be available for public review no later than Feb. 24 and the public will have 30 days to submit written comments.

Waste Management will collect food scraps and food-soiled paper from commercial and multi-family customers and deliver the organic materials to an offsite processing facility. Here the materials will be pulverized and highly condensed into a liquified slurry. The organic slurry would then be delivered to the San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility in a sealed and watertight truck where it will be pumped into an existing digester to create biogas, an environmentally friendly, renewable energy source.

Once operational the renewable energy project will offset the City’s use of electricity from the grid by: 

The State of California now requires every city, town and county in the State to significantly reduce the amount of food scraps and food-soiled paper that goes into landfills. When these materials break down in landfills, methane gas is created. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. The State law, SB 1383 requires a 50% reduction of organic waste disposal by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025.

In addition to this project complying with SB 1383, this project helps the City of Oceanside achieve the City’s Climate Action Plan goals to create local and reliable renewable energy sources and to achieve its zero waste objectives. The project dovetails well with the City’s the Food Scraps Recycling Program which collects food scraps from restaurants, commercial businesses, growers, retail stores and multi-family housing.

The following organizations support the project:

Botanical Community Development Initiatives

California Association of Sanitation Agencies

Main Street Oceanside

North County LGBTQ Resource Center

Oceanside Chamber of Commerce

One Kitchen Collaborative

Surfrider

WM

For More Information

 For additional reading, visit the following links:

• Food Scraps to Energy Fact Sheet
• Recycling and Organics Services for Multi-Family Households (Apartments, Condos & Townhomes)
• Recycling and Organics Services for Businesses
• Food Scraps Recycling Program Flyer
• Draft Environmental Document - Initial Study Mitigated Negative Declaration.

(760) 435-4500

greenoceanside@oceansideca.org