This new Vermont plant turns Ben & Jerry’s waste into clean energy

Ben & Jerry’s organic waste is now creating clean energy for the Vermont grid, thanks to a new PurposeEnergy plant in St. Albans.

PurposeEnergy, which specializes in converting organic food waste into energy, has officially opened a high-tech anaerobic digestion facility that began exporting power to the Vermont grid in December 2024. The project broke ground in May 2023 and marks PurposeEnergy’s first big move since being acquired by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in April 2023. Quinbrook fully funded the St. Albans facility.

A key player in this project is Ben & Jerry’s. The Vermont ice cream giant signed a long-term feedstock deal with PurposeEnergy in 2021. Now, all of Ben & Jerry’s high-strength organic waste and out-of-spec food products are sent straight from its factory to the new facility through a dedicated pipeline. The waste is then transformed into clean electricity and clean water.

Other regional food producers are also contributing their waste to PurposeEnergy’s new site. Casella, Wind River Environmental, Evergreen Services, and Carmichael Trucking haul additional feedstocks to help centralize food waste disposal across the region.

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“This project strengthens Ben & Jerry’s commitment to environmental sustainability by providing a long-term solution for organic waste,” said Jenna Evans, the company’s global sustainability manager. “It will reduce Vermont’s road traffic, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and decrease phosphorus pollution.”

The plant sits on land purchased from the Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation and is expected to produce 8.75 million kWh of renewable electricity annually. That clean power is sent to the Vermont grid through the state’s Standard Offer program, which supports the deployment of small-scale renewable energy projects.

The plant also recovers up to 45,000 million Btu of renewable thermal energy annually, which helps heat the digester and run operations.

“It’s a model of industrial symbiosis – turning food production waste into clean energy, reducing emissions, and supporting local economies,” said Erik Lallum, PurposeEnergy’s chief development officer.

PurposeEnergy says the new facility could help attract more food manufacturing businesses to the St. Albans Industrial Park by offering a sustainable, onsite waste management solution that doubles as a clean energy source.

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